This is such an important video on so many levels. 60 year old American here sitting here crying as I suddenly realized the reason I can't remember any of my childhood is because I never had one. I was raised by kind people in New York City but they were the "sit down and be quiet" type of parents. My kindergarten teacher was a tough old lady drill sergeant. I had to be an adult fast and it's cost me in my adult life. I'm cheering the importance of play in kindergarten in Germany! Another thing that I cheer is your allowing Ella to learn German at her pace and to embrace communication with others even if she can't speak the language. My Dad had a German friend that he could not communicate with verbally but they communicated with hand signals etc successfully. I learned early that you can communicate with anyone if you make the effort! Everyone in the US should see this video! Thank you so much!
I loved your comment so much. Anything that helps us to heal and understand more is a very valuable thing! And yes, it’s so very important that we get to have a childhood. ❤️❤️
Sorry to read this Gillian. I´ m a 54 year old German. Grown up on the Countryside. Never had to sit down strictly and listening, as long as i remember. But if the weather was good a lot of walks with the whole class into the nature. @Xarexes which rules ?
@@helgemoller5158 I'm 57 and the mixture between playing, going outside to explore nature and sitting down to listen to the teacher was maybe 80% to 20%. I loved my Kindergarten and the teacher. Fun fact, I'm the youngest if four, I was bored in school for one year (first one) bc I could already read, wright and do math. Sometimes I was bored later on too, but that's another story. lol 😆
Dear Friends i am a grumpy 61 years german and i do remember to sing the birthday song. Now for those of u who might be interested in the lyrics: How wonderful that you were born by: Rolf Zuckowski It can rain today Storm or snow Because you shine yourself Like the sunshine Today is your birthday That's why we celebrate All of your friends Be happy with you All of your friends Be happy with you How wonderful that you were born We would otherwise have missed you very much How nice that we are together We congratulate you, birthday child How wonderful that you were born We would otherwise have missed you very much How nice that we are together We congratulate you, birthday child Our good wishes Have their reason Please stay a long time Happy and healthy So happy to see you Is what we like There are already tears Enough in this world There are already tears Enough in this world How wonderful that you were born We would otherwise have missed you very much How nice that we are together We congratulate you, birthday child How wonderful that you were born We would otherwise have missed you very much How nice that we are together We congratulate you, birthday child Monday Tuesday Wednesday It doesn't matter Your birthday only comes once a year So let's celebrate That the rind cracks Today there is dancing Singed and laughed Today there is dancing Singed and laughed How wonderful that you were born We would otherwise have missed you very much How nice that we are together We congratulate you, birthday child 😊
The thing about mixed age groups is not only that the younger ones learn from the older ones. The older children learn how to structure knowledge when they teach something to the younger ones. They themself get to learn how to learn, wich will help them once they are in school, since they already have experience in managing their own knowledge.
It's great for those kids that don't have siblings at home Especially not younger siblings in my opinion. I'm the youngest and my nephew was born when I was 9 almost 10 years old but even before that I had plenty of opportunities to interact with younger kids in both Kindergarten and elementary school through Hort and all of those after-school activities that were mixed by age too.
I like that you mentioned that your son, who was academically ahead, maybe still would have benefitted from play-focussed kindergarten - because #relatable. I was held back from going to school when I was almost six (when you're in a certain age range, guardians can choose whether to send you at almost six or almost seven) because my kindergarten teachers said "Academically [they] could easily do it, but we think [they]'d benefit from having some more time to build self-confidence." Years later, it turned out I'm not necessarily shy or insecure; I'm just autistic. But having extra time to grow into myself and freely interact with other children without pressure to perform in school was probably a good thing. Now I'm 26, doing a PhD and teaching at university - I don't think learning to spell a year earlier would have improved my academic development all that drastically :D There's no need to rush.
My story was somewhat similar and I am happy my kindergarten teachers let me play for another year in Vorschule 😊 I did my Abitur as the best student of the year and just finished my Bachelor's in Computer Science with a pretty decent grade. Now doing my Master's and aiming for a scientific career :)
Similar thing for me. I was put into a „pre school class“ for a slow transition from kindergarten to elementary school and was supposed to stay there for a year. But they insisted on shifting me to first grade because academically speaking I was more than ready. Unfortunately, socially speaking I was not developed enough so I was totally socially inept throughout with most „friends“ I had being kids in classes below me. So it would have probably been better for me to develop my social skills more before moving over to school.
That is exactly what we told our daughter. And what the Betreuer in Kindergarten told her. And the Kinderarzt we went to. And her future teacher. She talked each of us into the ground til we gave up. We only got back at her when she wanted to go abroad alone for a social year after G8 and noticed that she wasn't 18 years old yet. And yes, she tackled that problem as well and went.
When my stepdaughter was in elementary school (six years old), we put up an Advent wreath with real candles in the kitchen. I had an adult conversation with her: "When you leave the kitchen, always blow out the candles. Fire is dangerous. A single candle can set the whole apartment on fire." When I came home from work some days later, she was very excited: "Mom and her friend left the kitchen and left the candles on. I blew them out immediately." I was so proud of the girl.
My silblings were 4 and 5 when we came to Germany. Few weeks after they entered Kindergarten, I caught them speaking in German with eachother while playing. It was 32 years ago and their Kindergarten was even not very good, but they absorbed the language like a dry sponge :)
I worked at a German kindergarten for a year. There definitely are deviating behaviors among the children (I think that’s an intrinsic human trait) but we never made those the center of attention to their parents. We mentioned problematic behaviors only if they were regularly disrupting the group or as a means to suggest outside support for the child or family (i.e. OT, speech therapy, Einzelintegration [basically an individual coming into Kindergarten for a few hours a week to support one child]).
German Kindergarden is heavily based on Friedrich Froebel's ideas about the development of a child. Even the word "Kindergarten" was coined by Friedrich Froebel, and so was the idea that childhood is fundamentally different from adulthood. Thus children should not be treated as little adults. He also observed that children learn by play, and so he invented educational toys like the wooden bricks. Albeit I am living in Austria, I still want to add my experiences, as Vorschule also exists in Austria. At the place I am living, the elementary school and the kindergarden share the building. At the time my daughter turned five years old, the principal of the elementary school attempted an experiment with a "pre-class", a class mixed of children who were old enough to go to school, but still behaved very kindergarden-like, and children in kindergarden-age, who might be able to follow school already. After half a year, for each child, either in that pre-class or in first elementary class, there would be a decision, if the child would stay where it is for the remainder of the school year or switch either from pre-class to normal class, or from normal class to pre-class and then join a normal class in the next school year. My daughter was part of that experiment, but for some reason directly entered a normal class at age five (but turning six a few weeks later anyway), and apparently managed to follow school well enough not to switch to pre-class after half a year.
You mentioned behavioural problems in american kindergardens. I'm a kindergarten teacher in Lower-Saxony. We noticed too that there is more tension in the group and kids get angry easier when they are indoors for a longer time or they have to sit still and concentrate for a longer time. That's the reason why we go out a lot of time no matter how the weather is. To build an exchange so that the children have the opportunity to run around and go climbing so that they get more emotional balanced and power out themselfes. When the kids come to kindergarten after the weekend we can always see at their actions and behaviour if they had been outside some time at the weekend or just being at home.
About the emotional stability and behavioural problems: I saw that when I lived in South Korea. I always wondered why there are extremely high depression rates amongst students. Well a big part is living in a highly competitive society where when you fail your studies it’s really hard. But more so, academics are the most important thing to the majority of parents and so they start academics real early too, teaching English even in pre-school age. There is a lot of bullying in Korean schools and I am convinced it is caused partially by skipping the emotional and social development at a young age just to pressure more academics. It’s really crucial to teach that a lot when you think about it.
Ooo very good points about how it's done in Korea. I hate competition in schools - each of us has different gifts and for many, academics isn't one of them.
As far as I see it most Kindergartens do some type of „Vorschule“ program during the last year of the kids. But in the last decades the more strict and structured “school like” approach from the past has been dropped for a more discovery oriented one. Kindergarten teachers try to instill basic life skills and schools also ask for not getting too far ahead with numbers and letters with the kids, at least not if they’re not interested it.
The birthday song is by Rolf Zuckowski (in case you didn‘t know). He is a children‘s song writer from Hamburg. I grew up with Songs in the 80s and 90s. I‘d say his songs are quite wholesome, fun to sing along to and still apply today. There are even songs about Traffic trafic education that I still remember today. 😁
We also learned all the months of the year with him. And I can't get the melody out of my head now "Heute kann es regnen, stürmen oder schnein, denn Du strahlst ja selber wie der Sonnenschein" :D
@@Kloetenhenne I came here for exactly this comment 😅 just yesterday I told my mom I feel ready to listen to “Dezemberträume” again for this season (I am 25 btw 😅)
When my eldest daughter was in kindergarten (14 years ago) the kids that celebrated birthday brought some muffins, cake etc. from home. When my other children entered kindergarten, they changed this to grouping the "birthdays" of the month and the kids decided (as a group) which out of a list of 4 treats they would like to have to eat, e.g. "Pizzabrot", Zitronenkuchen, Nudelsalat. Then the birthday kids went to the supermarket the day before and bought all the ingredients. The next day they would cook / bake the dish in the kindergarten kitchen. The change was probably due to lack of personnel (always the same problem around here) and hygiene ordinances that no homemade food should enter the kindergarten, but I am not sure. But they would still all sing "Wie schön, dass du geboren bist" (love that song, always brought tears to my eyes!). My kids loved kindergarten years and still speak about them with nostalgia. The freedom of choices was great for them, so they could choose to go outdoors, use the "Puppenecke", the "Bauecke", retreat to the calm and space-y "Glitzerecke", sit down with a book in the "Kuschelecke" (a cosy place with lots of pillows), listen to stories when the "Erzähloma" came (some local elderly ladies) and they always looked forward to the special action days when Police or Fire Brigade members would show up or when all toys were stowed aways for "Spielzeufreie Zeit" - translates as "no-toy weeks" when normal rules would be lifted and they could camp and play on or under the table, play with boxes, do woodworking etc. They certainly had a good time although there is always room for improvement.
Oh wow, I just love how they would buy the ingredients and make the food to celebrate the birthdays! What a good practical life lesson! It’s learning math, social skills, and so much more.
We have behavior problems in our German Kitas as well. I worked in an inclusive Kita that catered mostly to families from a low socio-economic background and to children who learned German as an additional language and we had a few children who really challenged us. But maybe the difference is how we deal with it? Because of how play-based and open everything is, you can find individual solutions for each child and redirect them to another activity. For example, we would encourage children to go play outside if they were too loud and wild in the classroom. We also had quiet areas where the children could go to and relax if they needed some time off from all the noise and chaos. Throughout the week/year we offered many different activities and projects but almost all of them were voluntary, so if a child wasn't interested in something or struggled to sit still, they could simply choose to do something else. Edit: Vorschule was like you said: the kids got pulled out once or twice a week for about an hour. This was in Schleswig-Holstein.
Yes!! I didn’t really say that in the video so I’m glad you wrote that the difference is how the behavioral problems are handled. Instead of redirecting the children or have them go get out their energy outside, or cuddle with them when they’re sad, they get punished. They have behavioral charts in classrooms and every kid knows who the “bad” kids are. I disagree with their disciplinary policies SO much. It’s almost always the children that come from chaotic, unstable and abusive home that are the ones who misbehave. When they are the children that need the most love and support.
@@MyMerryMessyGermanLife I agree completely. Punishment is often the last thing these kids need! (Clear boundaries, transparent rules and consequences are important but it needs to be done in a caring, empathetic and age appropriate way).
first here in saxony preschool is handled the same. sometimes they group kids from more groups together, instead of just having 3 of one group. they usually have a special teacher coming for the learning. ours went to „numbers land“ and „letter country“ and the first approach is usually very actively. they draw on grounds and hop on their letters. also instead of calling it punishment i would call it consequences here. it’s comes with the childs self awareness and self worth. with the social learning there always is trouble and problems, and sometimes redirecting is not solving it. however good kita erzieher will have consequences as last resort, not punishment. like if you cannot share a outside toy like a bike or such and create accidents all the time, they might be banned from it for a bit. however most tries to have the kids find solutions for their problems first. i think most german parents will help their kids voicing their issues to the kid, like „if you are mean to me, i really don‘t want to play with you anymore“ - „if you do not share your toy after a time, i‘ll find something different to play and not with you.“ and with the age groups the same is lived by the olders and younger can just copy. also the olders usually help with the conflicts and provide good solutions. basically kita should be the kid having a ton of siblings for the day. they learn they need to voice what they want but also listened, to others. so yeah big emphasis with social skills. and yes eingewöhnung plays a big part in the kid feeling fine in the group before it‘s left alone. it‘s even a law here. a kid is not allowed to be left from first day. the time is not set, it‘s a very different for each kid and parent, but by law you get at least a 4 week period, most kitas make it longer if necessary. because of a change in kita leitung, pregbancies and of course corona on top our little ones had 6 different teachers in her group the last 1,5years. that is very rare and most kids are struggling. so they try very hard now finding a much more constant way.
Your videos are always so fun to watch! I surely can imagine how scary it must have been for Ella going to the Kindergarten with not knowing if she could handle it. I‘m from NRW and we had to pay for the Kindergarten and yes, the amount depends on your income. In Düsseldorf for example which is just half an hour from where we live, you don‘t have to pay for the Kindergarten at all. So it really does depend in which city you are. I have two kids and my younger doughter who is now 11 years old, used to hate going to the Kindergarten. I remember one day I brought her to her class, I told her to put her Hausschuhe on and she was so angry, crying and didn’t want to stay. And all of a sudden she took her shoe and threw it after the Kindergarten teacher. I was so embarrassed and told the Kindergarten teacher that I‘m sorry for the bad behavior of my daughter. Than she asked me for a talk in the office. And I was surprised what she told me. Instead of being mad at me or my daughter she told me that my daughter is a very emotional person and she doesn’t know how to handle all these different feelings. I should be patient with her and be calm in situation like this. I didn’t expect the teacher saying that and was very glad that she seems to exactly know „her“ kids in her class and is able to assess my child. You all have a nice Sunday! Greets from Moers
Just let her watch Cartoons in German or "Die Sendung mit der Maus" to learn the language. Thats something a lot of Families watch together on Sundays. You can also watch it from the Mediathek of the channel. Im not sure when it airs since i dont watch TV. But i watched it too when i was young and a lot of german kids watch it.
@@Spikebhaal No nonsense explanations of cool topics. Die Sendung mit der Maus was the best. I'd take a well done understandable explanation of how casting steel works over anthropomorphised talking hasbro merchandise any day.
I grew up in Hesse and my last year of Kindergarten was similar to what you described. We learned the difference between left and right, how to use scissors and glue, how to tie our shoe laces - stuff you need to know for school.
I deeply appreciate your profound respect for your children as children and intelligent human beings. My kindergarten experience caused me to refuse to learn to read or write, largely because of my total distrust of my teacher who humiliated the one Latina in our class (the rest of us were the “right” color - white) in front of our entire class and quite specifically in a racist way. Naturally I didn’t understand racism at the time, but I did know that the teacher was being completely unfair. And when I say “refuse”, it was a quite conscious decision on my part. I rejected utterly any support she attempted to offer me and this support was primarily focused on learning to read and write. I spent two more years with bad teachers, one of whom who told me that I was not to answer questions in class because I spoke “baby talk” - whatever that was! My education was finally rescued when my third grade teacher turned out to be a genius in human relationships. She was compassionate, kind and very observant, plus she offered us “hands on” learning experiences. Also, I was taken under the wings of the girl who became my lifelong friend. She refused to accept that I could not read, introduced me to the public library and the “Blue and Green Fairytale” books and that was that. By fourth grade I was reading a book a day. Don’t worry, I still got plenty of physical activity in the forms of swimming (I purely LOVE to be in water) and games like “Red Rover, Red Rover let .... come over” or freeze tag.
Oh how very sad - I’m sorry you had that experience. This just goes to show how teachers play a profound role in our confidence and personal development.
Thank you so much for your openness. I personally think it's what we need Most. Lots and lots of fellows go through hardship. But by being quiet the suffering is passed from one generation to another, as in my Case. By opening Up the issue loses its threat and literally the defining power over our lifes. Glad you found a good teacher in the end.
I did not go to Kindergarten as a child in the 60ies as I was very lively, unruly, and more of a tomboy than the girl I was supposed to be. So the nuns in the (one and only) Kindergarten in our German suburb denied me admittance after just one day of trial, which was a burden on my mom. But I had a very good Italian friend living next door. He was one year younger than me and we stayed a lot at his place or on the quiet residential streets nearby. I picked up some Italian and though I never had a formal education in the language, I get along quite fine when I'm in Italy (e.g. when we made our "exam trip" to Rome in grade 12, I figured out how to obtain cheaper bus tickets by just reading the information about it at the bus stops (only in Italian). When I was 5 and a half, we moved into the house of my mother's cousin, who took me under her wings. We played board games and she read books to me. My favourite was an edition of Grimm's Fairy Tales from the 1930ies with lots of gorgeous drawings, all printed in the Gothic Fracture scripture. When I started school half a year later, I could read Gothic Fracture but not Latin script, lol. In the end, I turned out quite well. One of my sons is an Asperger and after his diagnosis (which he only got when he was 12 years old, despite already having problems in Kindergarten and regularly visiting a pediatric psychiatric facility since he was 7) he once a week visited a special group for autistic children age 6-18. In the beginning, the older children (and children who got their diagnosis earlier) helped him, later on, he helped the younger children, which helped him to develop self-esteem. The concept of mixed age groups has many advantages, even in a school environment. There is a "Laborschule" (in Bielefeld as far as I remember) where they have mixed age classes with good success.
I was an Au Pair in America the last 12 months. In february my hostfamily took jobs they got offered and also moved their whole family to Germany (not far from where I grew up actually) inkluding their kids (3 and 5 y. old). None of them spoke German really and I found it very interesting when they told me, that the 5 year old had a hard time at first, because she set a similar pressure on herself as Ella, while the 3 year old coped with the situation pretty quickly. He, as a kid much closer to the age of learning how to speak just knew, that he can communicate with other kids without really talking. The older one had to relearn that first.
My son is half American - he is not a kid anymore, he is 30 - but I am a single mom for all of his life. I atleast when he was a child and teenager had a very good contact with his father and family who we visited each year for some weeks in my holidays (it helps when you have 6 weeks holidays each year). I tried to get him to be able to speak or understand both languages from the beginning - English was always a part of our life as I learned him a lot of words, read him easy English stories, we sometimes banned German during dinner or when driving in the car, I learned him songs and rhymes and heard just English music and often English radio - and of course visited the USA (North Carolina) - but until he was about 7 or 8 he just understood English very well but did not speak. That suddenly started but when it did he pretty soon was very fluent with it and had a Southern accent. You did not recognize that he was a German. I had some books and games in both languages - like e.g. some of the Little Critter series. Maybe the boys would enjoy to read her easy books in German - but you might look into some series of German audio books - Here is a list of German audiobooks Benjamin Blümchen Bibi & Tina Bibi Blocksberg Bob der Baumeister Bobo Siebenschläfer Conni Der kleine Drache Kokosnuss Maybe you could thing about a Toniesbox - in my eyes it is expensive but it might be easier to handle for kids. You can switch the language to English and I think they have started to export their idea to England/the US now, too, and have downloads in English. tonies.com And yes, kids are different. Some love to go to Kindergarten from the first moment - others do not. I did not really have the choice as I was starting to work again very early - at the beginning I partly worked at my old workplace in the morning (he was at a daymom then) - in the afternoon I worked at my parents company until he was 3. I changed workplace when he was 3 and was working fulltime in Frankfurt (a one-hour-trip each way every day) - he got into Kindergarten where he spent the mornings and was at my Mom's house on the two afternoons she had off and at my day mom the other days. My son loved it everywhere - but he never wanted to leave the place he was at - in the morning our home, at lunchtime the Kindergarten and in the late afternoons my Mom or Daymom - and it needed always a lot of persuasion to get him from one place to the other.
Glad to hear that Ella is settling in! It can be really overwhelming. I think sometimes people underestimate how stressful it is for young children because we seem to not take young children all that serious in general. When I was a kid, I only moved to Germany from Switzerland and even though I could understand most of what was being said, I didn't speak a single word for weeks. (That's actually a common thing, it's referred to as a "silent period" in second language acquisition).
@@MyMerryMessyGermanLife I think part of that is that we as grown-ups know how to face problems and the kids don't. So to step in their shoes and see how somethng looks like a mountain to them while we regard it as molehill. But I guess as parents you know that very well.
@@MyMerryMessyGermanLife Maybe it´s also that we as adults have already learnt how to handle our emotions, what they mean or how we can "undo" them. As a kid it must be so scary having maybe feelings or emotions youve never felt before but no coping mechanism to make you feel better.....
My daughter loved Vorschule. She loved to be seperated from the smaller children in a small group and doing special stuff. My son didn't like Vorschule. He wasn't interested in drawing lines and creativity. He wanted to play or learn academic skills like maths, reading and writing, but they didn't. So he learned maths from his elder sister when she did her homework. For my children in the '90 Vorschule was only once a week for an hour. It depends on the Kindergarten and only on the region or state. The best of german Kindergarten and Vorschule is that there is no pressure. The only pressure comes from parents which are frightened their children don't learn enough in Kindergarten to manage elemantary school.
It’s interesting to see how similar kindergartens in Germany and Austria are. I live in the south of Austria and both my kids were born here. In Austria many primary schools also have a “Vorschule”, which is a sort of transitional year between Kindergarten and 1st grade. My daughter started school in 1st grade but had a lot of trouble adapting to the new school routine. After a few weeks and talks with school teachers, it was decided that she would go to Vorschule instead. It was the best decision we made - even though she was 6,5 she just wasn’t ready for 1st grade and this additional year made a world of difference. My son started school this year and he’s also attending “Vorschule”.
I love your videos and sharp observations about our school system (Kita included(. I am a German mom of two living in Saxony and your Kita experience is exactly the same as mine here in Leipzig. Keep posting, it helps me appreciate our system so much more to hear you guys reflecting on it.
You can be so proud of Ella how she managed the start. Sweetie. At 5 year old I passed holiday in Denmark.. when going to a playground the small ones go without words, by showing...
I'm loving your videos, thank you! I've been living in Bayern for 6 years now (coming from Argentina), 4 kids about the same age as yours, and I am having the same impressions you have, I am "shocked" by the same things -especially by the fact that they are SO independent being so young!! With regards to your question, our Kindergarten is exactly the same as what you describe (play play play, and they take the "Vorschulkinder" for a couple of hours a week as you explain). And it´s free for Vorschulkinder; younger ones pay but no much, according to salaries. Parents are invited to "Frühstuck" once a month (only 3 are allowed each time) where they do the same things the kids do on a regular day. Pia (my 4 yo) sometimes comes home and tells that "xx was really loud today and was making some "Schmann", but never that this XX was punished in any way. Yes they play in the garden every single day, no matter the weather. And I love the way they end up eating "healthy"; they kind of suggest you give them fruits and vegetables, and Vollkornbrot (when I was a kid, everything was about cookies for our "Brotzeit") But what I absolutely love the most about my days here is that I've definitely learned to enjoy and love (and live) nature! A M A Z I N G!! Keep enjoying life over here and thanks again for your videos -which I send to my friends back home so that they can get a glimpse of my life here! xx
Kids adapt so fast to new environments. We moved to Austria when our son was 4 (my husband and my stepson are from Scotland and I am from austria). Our son didnt speak any german when we first moved but within 3 months he was more or less fluent. It still took some time for him to figure out the artikels der, die and das and some other basic grammer but day to day talking and all he needed for kindergarden was fine after 3 months. He is now 8 and he is speaking the same local dialect as all the other kids. Also living in the countryside was new for him as we moved from Edinburgh. I didnt expect it to make such a big difference as I grew up here and I didnt know it any different. But it had such a big impact on his developement and he got so much more independent as he has much more freedom now.
@@MyMerryMessyGermanLife we were very surprised too. However we had the bug advantage that most of my family speaks no or little english, so he was confronted with the language most of the day. I am sure you all will get there soon and latest in school it will be second nature for Ella 😀
I usually answer in English but this time I do it in German. Ihr macht das hervorragend mit eueren Kindern und wenn ich ehrlich bin , bin ich sehr beeindruckt wie ruhig ihr manchmal bleibt , Respekt .Macht weiter so ich schaue gerne euch über die Schulter wie ihr das so bewältigt in einen fremden Land für euch .
Thank you for those long videos. As an elementary school teacher it is really interesting and helpful to hear what might be a problem for families when they are new to the whole system.
Oh I’m so glad you watched this, as an elementary school teacher here! I’m sure there is so much you could add to this conversation. If you ever want to do a live video together, just shoot me a message on Instagram! ❤️
I remember watching a short news story about a preschool or daycare center in the US that had video cameras in every room and the parents could log in at any time and watch what was happening. I was so shocked by that! As somebody who has worked in childcare, this sounds like a super stressful workplace if you are being watched every second. Also, some of the preschool practitioners talked about how they use this to manage challenging behaviours, basically telling the kid "You mom/dad can see what you are doing. Just wait until they come to get you in the afternoon, you will be in so much trouble". Which I think is not appropriate at all.
Oh wow, yeah, that’s awful! Threatening a kid like that. The problem is the teachers are using old fashioned punishing techniques, instead of redirecting the child and addressing the root of their unwanted behavior. Many parents in the USA still spank their children, which we totally disagree with.
Learn by fear... Doesn't really work. Because the effects wear off once the reason for fear is gone. Those people will learn to do forbidden things secretly, and will break the rules once they feel like no one has the power to punish them. If they do things right, they sometimes do this only to avoid fear or seek praise, not because it just is the right thing.
Given the nature of US society I have a hard time understanding why anybody would choose to work in a position where they are responsible for kids at all.
I was in Kindergarden right after the unification of Germany. It was hard as a kid. A lot of punishments. This hopefully changed a lot nowadays in east Germany. Now that I am becoming a father I want the best experiences for my kid.
I think you could attribute this to regional differences. Bavaria and Baden-Wurtenburg are different from each other for sure but very different from other regions due to history and culture.
A lot of parents are not aware that Kindergarten teachers in NRW (possibly in all of Germany) are supposed to create a file for each child in their care that describes the child's development (progress reports, pictures of the child, drawings and crafts by the child, etc). Parents have the right to receive this file at the end of the child's time in Kindergarten. I am a primary school headmistress and previously worked at a school with many foreign students. We often asked the parents to share this Kindergarten-file with us because (if the Kindergarten actually did a good job of it) it would give us a comprehensive impression of the child even if the parents did not have very advanced German skills. Generally, sharing this kind of information when starting school is essential so that each child can begin this new chapter in their life with the best possible conditions. Many parents hide "bad" things about their children because "the Kindergarten teacher is prejudiced and doesn't know my child like I do". Even if that is true, primary school teachers will notice if your child is capable of doing something even though their file says they can't. I have worked with a lot of teachers that were frustrated and overworked but every single teacher I've met wanted "their" children to succeed. We take pride in their small and big accomplishments. We delight in their lightbulb moments. If I teach a child the same thing 10 different ways and it still doesn't understand it, my first thought is how I can improve my teaching. Whether I have done enough. Of course not all teachers are the same and there might be some genuinely horrible ones out there but they certainly aren't the norm.
Das sollten mal die Menschen lesen, die behaupten, Lehrer würden zu wenig für ihr Geld tun . Es ist eben nicht nur die "Arbeit am Kind" sondern eben auch die Dokumentation die dazugehört. Die sieht nur kaum jemand... --------------------- People who claim that teachers don't do enough for their money should read this. It's not just the "work on the child" but also the documentation that goes with it. Hardly anyone sees them...
In my Kindergarten, Vorschule was kind of optional. I was interested in writing so i was shown how to write my name, etc. but I never learned math in vorschule, because i wasn't interested. So I could have learned about math writing nature, or take part in sport aktivitys, but every "Event" I could also just go outside and play if I wasn't interested at the moment. But this was for my whole time in kindergarten. Tldr: My Kindergarten provided the possibilaty to learn a lot, but every kid was free to just go and play if they like.
I am a Erzieherin in Berlin and I run a Tagespflege with my kolleague. We have 10 children between 1 and 5 years old. Preschool for me are the years prior to school, not just the last year of Kita. Play opens the world to the children and is their job. If you watch them you see when the children open their window to learn about letters, numbers or whatever. That is our time to provide information to them, not beforehand. Social emotional development is the most important. Self-reliance, resilience is crucial development to a child. It is also important to learn to make their own choices and to live with the consequences. They must know to stand up for themselves and they must be able to say no and stop to others and not rely on the grown-ups opinions. For instance if I want to change a diaper on our two year Olds, I will ask for permission and if they say no I'll have to come back later. Of course it happens and they pee thru but this way they learn to tell me when it is the right time. We will not force them into doing things but we will make the consequences clear... Okay you don't want to eat, this is your hunger you will have to deal with. Or no rain pants, your pants will get wet and we are not going back for wet pants.... Of course it is done when the child is ready to understand what consequences are. We work our way up to making own decisions. Trust your children in their abilities. As Steiner once said In Ehrfurcht empfangen, in Liebe erziehen und in Freiheit entlassen. Have a good weekend.
Excellent video about German Kindergarten, and nice to hear about the differences to American Kindergartens / preschools. I'm kind of hoping you are going to do some kind of analysis between American elementary school and German Grundschule.
I lost my first two teeth in Kindergarten because the "Kuschel-ecke" (A part of the room with matrasses on the ground, blankets and Stuffed animals to just relax or nap during 'free time') was right next to a metal Heater. A boy grabbed me and purpousfully knocked my head against it like five times before the teacher even came looking. He got a stern talk, his mother was called and he had to apologize. thats it. My mother came too, asked me if I was fine, I truthfully said yes, so she left again xD No one ever got into real trouble in Kindergarten here, you get corrected and they explained to him, why it's wrong. Punishment is at no use if the kid doesn't understand why its bad.
A boy cut off a chunk of my hair in Kindergarten. Same thing happened and he wasn't allowed to use scissors without a Kindergärtnerin around for a while afterwards because he had tried to cut people and not just their hair a few times before he succeeded to do it on mine but that was about it. My mom gave me a haircut and both of us kids survived. He was later in the same elementary school class as me too.
Also: punishment is actually not allowed, as it is an act of violence and the right to a violence free upbringing is a constitutional right in Germany since 2004
You're doing such a good job with your videos. I was just like "What? That was ALL?" when reaching the end, when I realized it was already 30 minutes. I could still have watched another half an hour without noticing the time passing by. I often think "man, please get to the point" in others' videos, and start skipping forward - that NEVER happens to me with YOUR videos, I just realize. In yours there's so many points - and I still can't get enough. Anyway, it's always a pleasure to see - or hear about - the progress your kids are making. But I also love to notice the progress YOU, the parents, are making. You might not be aware of it that much, but to me it seems you happend to find exactly the spot where you're fitting like a hand in a glove - by location, by culture, by just anything. I seriously think you've nailed it.
Oh I'm so glad our VERY long ramblings aren't boring you! Thank you so much for your kind comment and for your support of our videos. Yeah we really have found the perfect town, neighbourhood and country for us for now. We are very blessed.
For me it would be really interesting to see how kevin is doing at his new job in germany. Like how is it to work in germany and is it any different as in the us? Is their any language barrier? Maybe for your next videos.
Thank you for your analysis! Childhood education definitely is a very complex matter, with so many pros and cons to different systems. I just quickly wanted to add my personal experience from a similar, playbased education system here in Sweden. Over here, kids are in prescool until the year they turn 6, there is then one year "vorschule" (förskoleklass) and then first grade starts at age 7. Our system is also built on the idea of children's need to play, and I completely agree, because for most children that does seem best. But there is a downside. Because we are so heavily focused on the fact that children are supposed to play, there is very little recognition of some children's need for more advanced intellectual stimulation. I was very passionate about learning and playing intellectually from a very young age, and longed to start school from the age of 2. My parents tried to ask for more stimulation, but were told that I "needed to be a kid and play freely". What we're forgetting if that is our only narrative is: why do children play? Well, children play games that stimulate their growth and understanding of the world! All that academic stuff WAS my way of playing, it was the way forward in my cognitive development. I wasn't interested in the same games as the other children because that wasn't stimulating for me anymore. Unfortunately, I didn't get to "start learning letters" until the förskoleklass, by which time I had already been reading independently for over 2 years (as you can understand it would take many years before I got to come to school and learn something new instead of doing endless repetitions of things I already knew. A situation few of us adults would ever accept to be placed in!) This has had a longlasting negative effect on my life. While I am in no way opposed to a play based system (I would have been very bored in the situation that your son described from his american, academic preschool too!), the most important thing is that we always keep our minds open enough to see the children that don't fit in the same box as most others, and never let one sole practice be the answer.
Thank your for the video! I grew up an Hamburg and Vorschule ist quite a bit different there. It is not part of Kindergarten, but Grundschule. You have a classroom in the building of the Grundschule and a teacher. You go there every day for the entire school year (for me it was from 8am to 1pm I think) like a Schulkind and get prepared for what it's like to go to school. Afterwards I got picked up by my kindergarten teacher and spend the rest of the afternoon in kindergarten until my parents picked me up. It is not mandatory to go to Vorschule, but for some kids, e.g. who have an international background and need to learn German, or kids whose birthdays are later in the year and thus seem too young to go to school yet, it is recommended. I really enjoyed Vorschule and when I entered first grade in Grundschule I already knew my way around the school and had an easy start there.
In Germany there is a plethora of concepts of child learning. Most institutions (Krippe, Kindergarten, Hort) center on pedagogic concepts that enable the children to learn through play and experience of their environment. Academic learning concepts usually come into play in the year before the kids enter school. I am very glad that at least in this instance, childcare is modern and based on scientific facts (unlike learning in the school system).
In the Ostholstein region in the north of Germany it's exactly the same. Vorschule is in the last year of Kindergarden. But it's still play based. But as I mentioned before some say that this is not really enough. It's not suitable for balancing the social differences that the kids have when entering the school. Those from educational households are well prepared, those from educationally disadvantaged households are not. Despite everything in my opinion playing should stay in the foreground. This also doesn't mean that they should teach reading or writing in preschool lessons. The focus should be the development of basic skills such as drawing, usage of ruler and pencil, using the scissors, basic motorical development such as being able to walk backwards etc...
@@thejumper7282 just ask a primary school teacher... There are children there, who can't handle the scissors. There are children there who cannot tie their shoes. There are children there who are unable to listen. There are children there who never had learned to ask. There are children there who have forgotten how to be curious. And there are children there who can do it all well. With the first group you can't do maths or reading. They first have to learn the basics or they will never succeed properly. But or primary schools in general are not prepared to deal with such big differences. Fun fact: Almost every fifth student in Germany cannot read properly at the end of fourth grade according to a study of GEW. This also has to do with the fact that a lot of children don't go to any form of Kindergarden at all. But also for some of those who do, the funding Programm in Vorschule isn't enough.
@@jensbernhard1761 in Bavaria they have a language test before school. If they fail they have to go another year to Kindergarten or to go to a training (I don't know exactly which way they treat that lack of skills). Then you are allowed to enter school. And yes, there are German children who fail that test, too.
Hi, great video as always. I would like to see a video about Kevins work experience in Germany, about the life/work balance, how it is with his collegues, etc…
Okay sure, we could touch on that. Only thing is that he works for an international company so the culture of it really isn’t German and he speaks in English.
When I grow up (Germany, 90's) Kindergarten was just a day care. And there was no Vorschule. It wasn't necessary - it was the job of the regular school.
I just finished "workin´ moms" on Netflix and I don´t know if that was exaggerated but at one point the 3 year old son gets suspended for cutting someones hair off or biting or something. And watching that I just send a small prayer to the kindergarten god that this wasn´t actually how things were being handled in the US :´D
Academic preschools yes it is. The play based preschools no it's not. There are different kinds of preschools throughout the US. For example my nephews preschool was a combination of structure based and play based. His preschool said "you are doing this right now." Play with blocks, play with dolls, play outside, sing, etc. It wasnt allowing kids chose an activity based on their interest. Not all kids are cut out for allowing them to chose their activity. My nephew needed direction and so did I. If we didnt have direction we would have just sat there.
Your wonderful channel was recommended to me and I enjoy your content. I am from a part and generation in Germany where we didn't have English. I learned it myself over the past 3 years. It really opened my world. And I think it is the same for you and your kids. I am 50 now. It's very interesting to me to see/ hear all the differences between the countries. 💓
@@MyMerryMessyGermanLife I watch and listen a lot of vlogs or live streams here and over on Twitch. Most of the content I watch is in English nowadays. I also joined a community 3 years ago which speaks English the whole time during conventions or on VRChat, no matter where we are in the world. I like English a lot which makes it easierto learn. It is spoken so much softer than Getman and easy to learn. (In my opinion at least) ... I still make lots of mistakes tho, but I am getting better and better.
Near peer mentoring: Now that you mentioning it I noticed that very often our daughters explained things to each other. And it went both ways: Older to younger and the other way around.
In cities where there are very full classes and very different social groups some problems do arise in primary schools - kids who haven't as much chance to run around freely like yours have, watch too much TV (which is not always age appropriate, some parents just do not take good care, some can't as they work) - and take their energy back to the class-room where it disturbs when you have 30 kids.
I remember, when my mother was in a care home, once a month the kids from the Kindergarten directly opposite from the home, would come in with self baked cakes or cookies.
When I went to Kindergarten many years ago at the age of four, I startet to stutter. As a single child it was too much for me. My parents decided I should stay at home for another year and than I actually was READY to go. Giving Ella her time is the right decision, each child is unique. Still many children have working moms... they have no other choice. Love your videos
I'm 33 so it's been quite a while since my kindergarten time and it's propably quite outdated ^^ I also grew up in East Germany. And in East Germany after unification there really was no pre school. All kids learned their first letters and numbers in first grade together. I don't think any of us have ever written a word before that, because kindergarten was all play based. My first grade teacher was a sweet older lady and she would place the letters of the alphabet all over the classroom and let us find them if she asked for one specifically. They are such nice memories to me! And yep, no lag in our developement in learning reading and writing in first grade for the first time 😉 I absolutely loved it actually! I've been a big book worm ever since all my life!
"I'm 33... I also grew up in the DDR." 2021-1990= 31. So you were grown up with 2 years? I think you were to young, you were not in Kindergarten in the GDR but in the Krippe. You can't compare what happened before 1989, between 1989 and 1990 and the years after reunification. Preschool in the GDR was more about practising skills for handwriting and observing. Like going out and watch a construction side from the sidewalk and back drawing pictures about it. I remember that. Was 12 when the wall came down. Preparatiosn for school were: - to rhyme (can't remember) - solving riddles (can't remmeber) - painting with water colour and crayons (we did this) - counting with counting sticks (I remember the sticks) - name and compare quantities (can't remember) - first handwriting practise (I have done this) - traffic education and education for tidiness and cleanliness (we have done this) - painting, drawing, crafting and knead with Plasticine (did this more often in the last year) - practise tongue twisters (I can't remember) - observing something and telling what happened (yes, like the example with the construction site) - singing (we did this) virtuelles-ddrmuseum.de/seiten/ddrkindergarten.htm
@@helloweener2007 You're right I totally confused that. I was born in the DDR but my kindergarten time and so one was in East Germany. I will correct that.
I think it's really important to shine a light on the fact, that moving to a new country with a different language is in fact not easy for anybody, even though it can be an easier process for children than for adults. So it's ok to not fit in at first and to need time to adjust, I think you did a great job with Ella, helping her to adjust in her own time. I'm also really looking forward to hear how your boys are doing in school. I also think that moving to another country with children makes some things a lot of things more complicated, as you have to care not only for your things but for your kids, their schooling and so on. But on the other hand it gives you opportunities to engange with others (if that is the right wording) you otherwise would not have had. Maybe you can make a video in the future about how both of you are seeing yourself in this country? Do you feel at home yet? How is work with German colleges for Kevin? Anyways, I love your videos as they give me so much insight on different topics and things to think about. Not only is is really fascinating to see my own country from a "forgeigner's" perspective, but I also love the fact that your videos deal with all these different topics in such a positive and non-judgemental way. And besides that it's really interesting to see the differences and similarities concerning different German regions or Bundesländer. I learn something new every week.
Thank you so much, I’m so glad our videos help us all think about things in a different way. We just love these cultural discussions we have with our followers after each video! We are learning so much from all of you. And yes you’re so right - moving to another country is a really huge adjustment for anyone. Even if you speak the same language it can be difficult as there are some cultural differences.
One super important bit of information before coming to Germany and relying on Kindergarten: Without specific, up-to-date information on your community, don't be too confident you will get a place! In 2019, it was reported that there was a deficit of 320,000 Kindergarten places in Germany overall. COVID has caused a special situation, but it's safe to say that there are still not enough places. Twenty years ago, some people had their unborn children put on waiting lists. This was in part in order to get a place in the Kindergarten of first choice. And since then there has been an offensive to increase the number of places. But still, this is one of the things you may want to arrange before moving to Germany, to prevent a nasty surprise in your first weeks.
I worked as an Au Pair in England and I was so surprised that my 4-year old already lernt how to write and read. However, the school day was really long. I picked my hostchild up at 4 and he always fell asleep in the car. Then he had a short break and after that it was homework time. It was torture... I hated to pressure him so much because he was tired and just wanted to play but I had to make him do his exercises. After dinner he had TV time but the actual playing time was cut so short. I didn't like this education system. I also came across those studies you talked about. The German system is far from perfect but at least children can have lots of playtime
I agree with you the school day is longer (usually about 9 until 3) but most mothers work so the children would have longer days outside the home anyway. At the age of 4 and 5 they will be playing most of the day with a free choice of what to do but with short group sessions ( no longer than 15 or 20 minutes) to introduce letter sounds and maths skills. I have never heard of homework for that age of children, other than reading a short book or a few flash cards with their parent if they want to. Most English reception classes have access to outdoor areas too so children can choose to play outside, whatever the weather. I think in the past English schools would have been more formal but that is not the case now.
@@juliebrooke6099 oh okay thanks for telling me. So it wasn't official homework then but 'homework' his parents wanted him to do...and since I was the Au Pair I had to do it with him every evening. He had to read, practice the alphabet and had to do some calculations and practice writing. Really glad to hear that they have playtime in school!
don't know if you two are into politics, but scince we had a election a few weeks ago, I think it would be very interesting (especially for your German followers) to learn about your impressions on that. not talking about own political opinions, but common differences in political atmosphere & Wahlkampf- that you noticed. As far as I know we germans are mostly dissatisfied with our political atomosphere, structures etc. - as well as ungrateful for them sometimes. Would love to learn about your culture shocks in connection to German politics. Greetings from Germany Dresden!
That would be interesting to talk about, because we do really appreciate the politics in Germany. In the USA, politics have gotten very bitter, nasty and divided. It’s right or left - people go to either extreme and it’s not healthy. It’s very stressful. So we love how there are six parties here so it’s not as easy for the country to be divided in half.
While that would be of interest, I would like to point out that not only might their point of view not mesh well with your own, their everyday experience may also be vastly different. Living in Bavaria is not very comparable politics-wise as living in Saxony, for example.
@@hape3862 I did not say (or actually mean) that. It's simply that local politics differ a lot between regions and states, so that the opinions of the family in Bavaria might have little connection to those of "Max Mustermann" from Dresden, Saxony, or "Erika Musterfrau" from Hamburg, and "Kim Mustermensch" from Berlin, etc. Also, depending on how closely one tracks the politics (e.g., whether your only source of information is the short Tagesschau summary or similar, or whether you are actually actively engaged in local politics) also has a large impact on the perception. [And I don't mean to criticise Tagesschau, but they can only show a tiny segment of what is under discussion in politics, simply because they lack the time to do more]
Lovely video. My best friend is a teacher at a German kindergarten, currently for the children under the age of 3 - not every kindergarten has those groups, but they are getting more and more common. For the older kids, they still have their groups like you mentioned, but only for the first couple of houres of the day and the rest is more like an open-house-concept. The kids can go where they want, do what they want and there are different areas in the kindergarten, where the teachers set up activities, like gym, arts, crafts, garden and so on. The very small kids under the age of 3 are always in their group and always go outside or to the gym and other activities with theirs teachers, as they need more supervision. What might be interesting is that even though it looks as if they are just playing the whole day, the teachers monitor the children very closely and take ergular notes on their development, so if anything seems to differ from the usual developmental stages, they consult with their collegues and then talk to the parents. They might then encourage the child to participate in activities, which will help them either deepen a special skill they have shown or help with problems they might have shown. So for example when a child shows problems with their balance, but it is not so severe that you should immediately consult a doctor, they just play games that will strenghthen their balance-skills. Speaking to my friend always fascinates me, because I never knew how much work the kindergarten teachers put in every day and how well they know the abillities of each and every kid in their care. They always come up with new creative ways to make the learning experience fun for the children.
Ah so good to know about the teachers and how they take notes! I have noticed how they do that in circle (Morgen Kreis) time. They have a notebook out and are writing as the kids sing and count, etc.
In Berlin, there is no obligatory Vorschule. Depending on the concept of the Kita, they can offer it and some Kitas I know actually do. But typically, there is no school-like, academical Vorschule. They focus on cutting, holding sizzors the right way, following all types of lines, holding a pen the right way. Some Kitas I know work based on the "Situationsansatz" (situation based concept = pick up an interest shown by the children). So if the kids want to learn about letters and numbers, than the Erzieher would pick it up. My eldest son went to a Kita with Situationsansatz and in his last year he learned how paper is made (papyrus paper, "our" paper), they learned about how writing was invented (starting with cave painting till nowadays what you learn in school), they went to a printing factory... It was very interesting. Another project they did, was creating an alphabet for their group room (in the Kita it is always called group room since they are not in school and therefore not in a class). They heard the sounds and had to come up with words that start with that sounds. Then they drew a picture of that word. Long story short, as an Erzieher (which I am too btw) you should aim for main things. All things academic come with school.
Interesting 🤔, did they completely remove the Vorschule (unless the KiTa offers something along the lines) ? When I grew up in Berlin the Vorschule was a class in the Grundschule with less lessons per day than in first grade and iirc the concept was something between play based Kindergarten and regular classes of Grundschule. But that was decades ago 😅...
@@matzek.3220 It is completely removed. I don't know when exactly it happened, but my oldest son is turning 13 very soon and he did not attend Vorschule, so it was done before 2014.
You became a real video artist!!! Whenever I see your footage, I want to become a member of your lovely and awesome family!!! Cherish what you own, but you already do, no complaining. 😂
Our daughter is 19 months and in Kindergarten since about two months. When we pick her up, the teachers sometimes tell us if anything special happened that we need to know, eg that she didn’t like lunch and might be hungry, and sometimes just a glimpse of what she did during the day. We can also ask if we have specific questions. In our Kreis Düren childcare is free for all kids except for families with especially high income. We only pay for food that they get there.
Brit living in Switzerland since 2001 here - stumbled across your videos recently. We're slightly different in that our son was born in Switzerland so he's been in the Swiss system from the beginning. Nevertheless, as foreigners it has been an adventure for us learning about the Swiss education system - which has many parallels with your experiences in Germany. The children are expected to get to school or kindergarten by themselves - no parents dropping them off in cars. Massive emphasis on doing "risky" things - for example children taking turns to prepare the "Znüni" (morning snack) using sharp knives to chop vegetables. Fortnightly walks into the forest with the teachers where the children take their pocket knives, trim sticks, light a fire and cook a sausage. Hats off to you and the children for embracing German life, not taking the easy way out with international school.
Really cool observation, especially regarding Ella's hard time putting herself into stress not being able to communicate as she didn't speak German as all. During such hard time it helps alot just to let her know there's nothing wrong and to encourage her to not giving up in a positive way, so I think you as parents did a great job as well. In hindsight it helps her alot in her personal growth and how to deal with hard times in a whole. And I'm pretty sure there will be some time soon when she will start to help or teach you in those pronounciation challenges you might have. So she will be the teacher and you the students - overall she will make you even more proud of her.
Yes! Ella’s pronunciation is already really good and she does correct me! I love it - I play along like I don’t know the word, because it really boosts her confidence in German. And yes, what great lessons she’s learned through this experience of how to succeed in a great challenge.
It's okay, my 5 yr old son still speaks mostly English in kindergarten, we don't pressure him and he absolutely loves going to kindergarten even if he doesn't understand German that much yet...hugs from 🇦🇹
When I was in Kindergarten they had a voluntary pre-school option, which I did try out for a few times but the caretakers realized I was getting bored and they let me go back to the other group again. My parents had already taught me how to write and read a bit so the pre school stuff was just too easy for me. I’m glad I could easily switch back to playing for another year instead of having to do boring worksheets. However, I do think teaching kids how to read, write basic stuff and doing tasks quietly is important to make first grade a bit easier.
My mother, brother and i moved to the uk when i was 12. He was 14. Our English wasn’t great. My brother was the type to just chat away in broken english not caring if he made mistakes. I was more shy and didn’t speak much for about 6 months until i was fluent enough to not make mistakes.
In former times Kids were sent directly from Kindergarten to 1st. Class. Kids that were supposed to have problems in the first class were sent to the Vorschule. But most Kids learn writing and maths in first clans.
I would like a video about the kids' progression in learning German and how the boys are getting on with school. And if they are up for it, they could tell us themselves in German?
Yes we will be doing more videos speaking in German soon! If the kids are up for it - we only want them to be on TH-cam if they want to. Our oldest does not want to be filmed so naturally we respect that.
Our daughter was born in Austria, but we only speak romanian at home. SO when she started kindergarten it was a very similar situation... she cried every morning for the first many months, but she was happy when we picked her up, saying she had a very nice day. But starting with the second year, she is excited to go to kindergarten, she does sooo well with the language, and her bestie is also a foreign girl. They communicate with one another in a mixture of both mother tongues + German + few English words here and there... so sweet. I thought I would never hear her say that she misses kindergarten, but those days finally came 😀
I`m sure you realized before moving to Germany, your life will not be easy in a foreign country. Especially with four kids in a different age and different requirements. But you are managing so many "problems" in your own way, in a good way 👍and without losing your humor (as far as we can see in your videos 😄). And I´m also sure, in a few years, Ella will say: "Mom, Dad, this have been problems your you ? Because i can`t remember to all these things, this must have been "peanuts" for me ! Don`t worry about me."
What are the games kids today are playing on birthdays in Germany vs. the US? We had for instance games like „Topfschlagen“, „Der Plumpsack geht um“, „Blinde Kuh“ and „Stille Post“. At least the latter has a counterpart in the US: „telephone game“. Perhaps this is a thing that could be interesting for families moving to Germany, what are the typical games for groups of kids they are playing in the US vs. Germany. 🙂 I know there are similar games for kids in those two countries like tag (Fangen) or hide and seek (Verstecken). And while watching Squid Game, there were also games for kids that were similar to German kids games like „Red light, green light“ in Korea is equivalent to the German „Ochs am Berg“. But what are the differences? The Games that are unknown to other countries? 🙂
Some children just take longer to adjust to going to the kindergarten. My first daughter is very shy and even though she is German and didn't have any language barriers to overcome, it took her about 4-6 weeks to get used to going to the kindergarten. Luckily, our kindergarten was very tolerant and was okay with the "Eingewöhnung" taking so long. Not every kindergarten in Germany is like that. Ella is doing really well!
That’s so true - children who are more shy tend to want to be near their parents for longer, and that’s totally okay! We all have different needs and personalities.
Oh, I feel so sorry for poor Ella, that must have been a tough experience for her in these first weeks in Kindergarten. But it’s so great to know that she is doing well. I love your channel, although I don’t have children and never had to think about these problems.
Maybe another idea to explain that Ella had her problems was seeking attention and getting time with you alone? As you told the older ones needed more attention than usual because of the new schools. And I guess before moving to Germany she probably got the most attention being the youngest and the only girl.
Yeah that might’ve been part of it! Our attention moved from her to her brothers as we helped them do their work at home during lockdowns. It was quite a difficult time.
Living in an English speaking country, I also found, like you said, foreigners seem to understand each other easier. Even though we don’t speak perfect English. Maybe we have learnt to listen to the meaning conveyed and don’t focus small things not understood.
aww i love your channel! i don't even have kids, but many of my friends do and i am always interested in what environments we grow up in and how it affects us, back when i was little and nowadays. and how it differs in different cultures and what has to improve in the future. i notice that most people don't even reflect on these things, they just want their kids to be somewhere while they go to work and that is it. you guys have so many interesting thoughts and pick out interesting quotes from people, i love it. i am just agreeing on so many things. :) (btw i am german, in berlin, and around your age i guess)
Just to make sure: birthday rituals are another thing that's very dependent on the individual Kindergarten. For instance in our Kindergarten, they try to avoid both too much sugar AND the birthday cake competition between parents, so the birthday celebration is very low key and cake is not allowed. The kids don't really miss it, they're still allowed to feel special on that day.
I went to Kindergarten only for three months, as it just opened for the first time in my home village, back in 1973. Then I went straight to school, still being 5 years old - fate of the Scorpio-born, I guess … 🤓 I liked the Kindergarten, the two "Aunts", as we called them, were nice, and every time when I met them later on the street or at the groceries in my little Bavarian village we had a nice chat. That went until well into my 20s, before I moved to Augsburg, but if I'd meet them today, at age 54, I would still call them "Aunt Inge" and "Aunt Rosie" to make them laugh. I'm not often in my village anymore, as my family dissolved.
I am so glad that your kids are doing so well. With our first move (from Germany to Atlanta), I did not talk for a full year. The subsequent moves (to Italy and a few other countries) fortunately did not take me as long. In the meantime, I know 30 different languages and am happy. My languages multiplied because I am also Deaf and wanted to learn the various signed languages as well. I completed my Abitur in Munich and moved to Minnesota for college and a PhD program.
In our region of germany kindergarten is play only - the entire time. some kindergardens offer playful english-lessons but in general the children are free to play and develop their skills the way they feel like it. i loved kindergarden, it was such a warm place for me. like a second home.
There is a kind of skill in every child or person. Especially when children are in the development phase, you should let them do it. Childhood is very important. The children will certainly grow up without pressure. Greetings to you 😃
You're all so awesome! Ella does her thing so well. Maybe you can use pictures like they do in UK (unterstützte Kommunikation = supported communication) for Ella (or the Kindergarten teacher can) for stuff she doesn’t know. They use this form of communication for kids who are nonverbal (e.g. autistic kids) and most kindergartens are trained for this. So if she doesn’t know a word but wants to ask she could maybe take a picture card and show the teachers.
The Vorschule in Hamburg is very different to other parts of Germany. In Hamburg the last year before 1st Grade they get separated for the year. They have two hours a day a learning time. They learn different things every day (nature, math, German,...). They make a lot field trips and also play a lot. But there is more focus on getting prepared for first grade. But every Vorschule is different. I'm a teacher in a Vorschule-group and I love how they learn and play together. :)
I learned that the kids attention is just as much how old they are. Like a 3 y/o has attention to listen and sit still for about 6-9 minutes. Young kids need to play to learn all the different things to live life!
It's not only different by region, but every kindergarten does it differently. In ours, there are different groups (based on age) where they spend an hour each week. This year (age 4/5), we had "marieni", which is science class basically. They played games and did experiments with water (learning the water cycle), magnets, learned about volcanoes...stuff like that. Then there was music, which she'll take again next year. Basically they learn about different instruments and get to try them, learn about rhythm and prepare the songs for the kindergarten church services and parties like the summer party. Next year (5/6) there will be Vorschule once a week where they have a teacher from the elementary school down the road teach them, take them to school occasionally, tell them about differences between kindergarten and school. Then, like I said, music again and English. For the youngest (3/4 yrs) there's "schmusekater" which is also science based like marieni, but they also talk about everyday things like jobs, mechanics, traffic safety rules, ... So yeah. Our kindergarten offers A LOT, which not many do. But you have to consider that there are a ton of concepts like Aqua Kita, Waldkindergarten, Montessori....so understandably the educational priorities differ.
Another lovely video. It's so interesting to see how other parents deal with the change in life. I think that even to a point some Germans when they are parents for the first time have to re-learn what Kindergarten was like, as it probably has changed since they were little. There are times when I miss when our children were at that age, and there are more times when I'm so happy that ours are out of that age. So enjoy it while you can :D
Vorschule in north-west Germany is an optional type of school. The way I understand it, it's for kids who are kind of too advanced for kindergarten but not yet ready for Grundschule (elementary school).
This is such an important video on so many levels. 60 year old American here sitting here crying as I suddenly realized the reason I can't remember any of my childhood is because I never had one. I was raised by kind people in New York City but they were the "sit down and be quiet" type of parents. My kindergarten teacher was a tough old lady drill sergeant. I had to be an adult fast and it's cost me in my adult life. I'm cheering the importance of play in kindergarten in Germany! Another thing that I cheer is your allowing Ella to learn German at her pace and to embrace communication with others even if she can't speak the language. My Dad had a German friend that he could not communicate with verbally but they communicated with hand signals etc successfully. I learned early that you can communicate with anyone if you make the effort! Everyone in the US should see this video! Thank you so much!
I loved your comment so much. Anything that helps us to heal and understand more is a very valuable thing! And yes, it’s so very important that we get to have a childhood. ❤️❤️
I'm so sorry to hear that, Gillian! 😘
Uhh, i'm 48 year old German (tomorrow ;)
In the past, it was not going this way and we had to follow the rules too.
Sorry to read this Gillian. I´ m a 54 year old German. Grown up on the Countryside. Never had to sit down strictly and listening, as long as i remember. But if the weather was good a lot of walks with the whole class into the nature. @Xarexes which rules ?
@@helgemoller5158 I'm 57 and the mixture between playing, going outside to explore nature and sitting down to listen to the teacher was maybe 80% to 20%. I loved my Kindergarten and the teacher. Fun fact, I'm the youngest if four, I was bored in school for one year (first one) bc I could already read, wright and do math. Sometimes I was bored later on too, but that's another story. lol 😆
Dear Friends
i am a grumpy 61 years german and i do remember to sing the birthday song. Now for those of u who might be interested in the lyrics:
How wonderful that you were born by:
Rolf Zuckowski
It can rain today
Storm or snow
Because you shine yourself
Like the sunshine
Today is your birthday
That's why we celebrate
All of your friends
Be happy with you
All of your friends
Be happy with you
How wonderful that you were born
We would otherwise have missed you very much
How nice that we are together
We congratulate you, birthday child
How wonderful that you were born
We would otherwise have missed you very much
How nice that we are together
We congratulate you, birthday child
Our good wishes
Have their reason
Please stay a long time
Happy and healthy
So happy to see you
Is what we like
There are already tears
Enough in this world
There are already tears
Enough in this world
How wonderful that you were born
We would otherwise have missed you very much
How nice that we are together
We congratulate you, birthday child
How wonderful that you were born
We would otherwise have missed you very much
How nice that we are together
We congratulate you, birthday child
Monday Tuesday Wednesday
It doesn't matter
Your birthday only comes once a year
So let's celebrate
That the rind cracks
Today there is dancing
Singed and laughed
Today there is dancing
Singed and laughed
How wonderful that you were born
We would otherwise have missed you very much
How nice that we are together
We congratulate you, birthday child 😊
Here is an example of the german lyrics: th-cam.com/video/XaKPbXXbtWY/w-d-xo.html
thank you for showing us the lyrics!
Helfgott das war herzerwärmend.. sowas sagt man in Deutsch eher weniger, Amerikaner sagen das dauernd. Und es ist durchaus kein Kitsch.
Rolf Zuckowski beste .. Ich schaff das schon, Ich schaff das ganz alleine!
@@31337flamer tolles Lied
I'm 27 years old now and I still know all the words to "Wie schön, dass du geboren bist" by heart. I loved celebrating birthdays in Kindergarten!
Awe that’s wonderful! I can see how Germans would have sweet kindergarten memories as it’s such a precious time.
Actually I‘m quite curious to see how your kids will react to all the christmas habits in Germany. Especially the Christmas Markets.
We're so excited to go to the Christmas markets with the kids!
The thing about mixed age groups is not only that the younger ones learn from the older ones. The older children learn how to structure knowledge when they teach something to the younger ones. They themself get to learn how to learn, wich will help them once they are in school, since they already have experience in managing their own knowledge.
Yeah good point!
It's great for those kids that don't have siblings at home Especially not younger siblings in my opinion. I'm the youngest and my nephew was born when I was 9 almost 10 years old but even before that I had plenty of opportunities to interact with younger kids in both Kindergarten and elementary school through Hort and all of those after-school activities that were mixed by age too.
I like that you mentioned that your son, who was academically ahead, maybe still would have benefitted from play-focussed kindergarten - because #relatable. I was held back from going to school when I was almost six (when you're in a certain age range, guardians can choose whether to send you at almost six or almost seven) because my kindergarten teachers said "Academically [they] could easily do it, but we think [they]'d benefit from having some more time to build self-confidence."
Years later, it turned out I'm not necessarily shy or insecure; I'm just autistic. But having extra time to grow into myself and freely interact with other children without pressure to perform in school was probably a good thing. Now I'm 26, doing a PhD and teaching at university - I don't think learning to spell a year earlier would have improved my academic development all that drastically :D There's no need to rush.
Thank you for these real words!
My story was somewhat similar and I am happy my kindergarten teachers let me play for another year in Vorschule 😊 I did my Abitur as the best student of the year and just finished my Bachelor's in Computer Science with a pretty decent grade. Now doing my Master's and aiming for a scientific career :)
Statistically, those with almost 6 will lack behind those with almost 7. A lot happens in that year...
Similar thing for me. I was put into a „pre school class“ for a slow transition from kindergarten to elementary school and was supposed to stay there for a year. But they insisted on shifting me to first grade because academically speaking I was more than ready. Unfortunately, socially speaking I was not developed enough so I was totally socially inept throughout with most „friends“ I had being kids in classes below me. So it would have probably been better for me to develop my social skills more before moving over to school.
That is exactly what we told our daughter. And what the Betreuer in Kindergarten told her. And the Kinderarzt we went to. And her future teacher. She talked each of us into the ground til we gave up. We only got back at her when she wanted to go abroad alone for a social year after G8 and noticed that she wasn't 18 years old yet. And yes, she tackled that problem as well and went.
When my stepdaughter was in elementary school (six years old), we put up an Advent wreath with real candles in the kitchen. I had an adult conversation with her: "When you leave the kitchen, always blow out the candles. Fire is dangerous. A single candle can set the whole apartment on fire."
When I came home from work some days later, she was very excited: "Mom and her friend left the kitchen and left the candles on. I blew them out immediately."
I was so proud of the girl.
My silblings were 4 and 5 when we came to Germany. Few weeks after they entered Kindergarten, I caught them speaking in German with eachother while playing. It was 32 years ago and their Kindergarten was even not very good, but they absorbed the language like a dry sponge :)
I worked at a German kindergarten for a year. There definitely are deviating behaviors among the children (I think that’s an intrinsic human trait) but we never made those the center of attention to their parents. We mentioned problematic behaviors only if they were regularly disrupting the group or as a means to suggest outside support for the child or family (i.e. OT, speech therapy, Einzelintegration [basically an individual coming into Kindergarten for a few hours a week to support one child]).
Yeah, there ya go. Much different mindset when we are trying to solve the root of the behavior, instead of trying to punish the behavior.
German Kindergarden is heavily based on Friedrich Froebel's ideas about the development of a child. Even the word "Kindergarten" was coined by Friedrich Froebel, and so was the idea that childhood is fundamentally different from adulthood. Thus children should not be treated as little adults. He also observed that children learn by play, and so he invented educational toys like the wooden bricks.
Albeit I am living in Austria, I still want to add my experiences, as Vorschule also exists in Austria. At the place I am living, the elementary school and the kindergarden share the building. At the time my daughter turned five years old, the principal of the elementary school attempted an experiment with a "pre-class", a class mixed of children who were old enough to go to school, but still behaved very kindergarden-like, and children in kindergarden-age, who might be able to follow school already. After half a year, for each child, either in that pre-class or in first elementary class, there would be a decision, if the child would stay where it is for the remainder of the school year or switch either from pre-class to normal class, or from normal class to pre-class and then join a normal class in the next school year. My daughter was part of that experiment, but for some reason directly entered a normal class at age five (but turning six a few weeks later anyway), and apparently managed to follow school well enough not to switch to pre-class after half a year.
So cool! I love learning the historical origins of our cultures and way of life. Thanks for sharing this!
You mentioned behavioural problems in american kindergardens. I'm a kindergarten teacher in Lower-Saxony. We noticed too that there is more tension in the group and kids get angry easier when they are indoors for a longer time or they have to sit still and concentrate for a longer time. That's the reason why we go out a lot of time no matter how the weather is. To build an exchange so that the children have the opportunity to run around and go climbing so that they get more emotional balanced and power out themselfes. When the kids come to kindergarten after the weekend we can always see at their actions and behaviour if they had been outside some time at the weekend or just being at home.
Yes!! This is so smart. Kids aren’t outside enough at all in American preschools.
About the emotional stability and behavioural problems: I saw that when I lived in South Korea. I always wondered why there are extremely high depression rates amongst students. Well a big part is living in a highly competitive society where when you fail your studies it’s really hard. But more so, academics are the most important thing to the majority of parents and so they start academics real early too, teaching English even in pre-school age. There is a lot of bullying in Korean schools and I am convinced it is caused partially by skipping the emotional and social development at a young age just to pressure more academics. It’s really crucial to teach that a lot when you think about it.
Ooo very good points about how it's done in Korea. I hate competition in schools - each of us has different gifts and for many, academics isn't one of them.
As far as I see it most Kindergartens do some type of „Vorschule“ program during the last year of the kids. But in the last decades the more strict and structured “school like” approach from the past has been dropped for a more discovery oriented one. Kindergarten teachers try to instill basic life skills and schools also ask for not getting too far ahead with numbers and letters with the kids, at least not if they’re not interested it.
My brother hated kindergarten. He used to lie across the radiator and cry that he wanted to go home. He finally made one friend an it got better.
The birthday song is by Rolf Zuckowski (in case you didn‘t know). He is a children‘s song writer from Hamburg. I grew up with Songs in the 80s and 90s. I‘d say his songs are quite wholesome, fun to sing along to and still apply today. There are even songs about Traffic trafic education that I still remember today. 😁
We also learned all the months of the year with him. And I can't get the melody out of my head now "Heute kann es regnen, stürmen oder schnein, denn Du strahlst ja selber wie der Sonnenschein" :D
My sister is 32 and there won't be ONE holiday season baking session with her without his children's christmas songs 😂
@@Kloetenhenne I came here for exactly this comment 😅 just yesterday I told my mom I feel ready to listen to “Dezemberträume” again for this season (I am 25 btw 😅)
@@CHarlotte-ro4yi I am 25, too 😂 our baking favorite is "Winterkinder" 😂
They are also a stable for Traffic education and for Christmas time. Really, knowing his songs is an important part in most German childhoods.
When my eldest daughter was in kindergarten (14 years ago) the kids that celebrated birthday brought some muffins, cake etc. from home.
When my other children entered kindergarten, they changed this to grouping the "birthdays" of the month and the kids decided (as a group) which out of a list of 4 treats they would like to have to eat, e.g. "Pizzabrot", Zitronenkuchen, Nudelsalat. Then the birthday kids went to the supermarket the day before and bought all the ingredients. The next day they would cook / bake the dish in the kindergarten kitchen. The change was probably due to lack of personnel (always the same problem around here) and hygiene ordinances that no homemade food should enter the kindergarten, but I am not sure.
But they would still all sing "Wie schön, dass du geboren bist" (love that song, always brought tears to my eyes!).
My kids loved kindergarten years and still speak about them with nostalgia. The freedom of choices was great for them, so they could choose to go outdoors, use the "Puppenecke", the "Bauecke", retreat to the calm and space-y "Glitzerecke", sit down with a book in the "Kuschelecke" (a cosy place with lots of pillows), listen to stories when the "Erzähloma" came (some local elderly ladies) and they always looked forward to the special action days when Police or Fire Brigade members would show up or when all toys were stowed aways for "Spielzeufreie Zeit" - translates as "no-toy weeks" when normal rules would be lifted and they could camp and play on or under the table, play with boxes, do woodworking etc.
They certainly had a good time although there is always room for improvement.
Oh wow, I just love how they would buy the ingredients and make the food to celebrate the birthdays! What a good practical life lesson! It’s learning math, social skills, and so much more.
I am sure "sit still and be quiet" is one of the worst things you can do to a childs development.
so true, sad, but true.
Right? So detrimental.
We have behavior problems in our German Kitas as well. I worked in an inclusive Kita that catered mostly to families from a low socio-economic background and to children who learned German as an additional language and we had a few children who really challenged us. But maybe the difference is how we deal with it? Because of how play-based and open everything is, you can find individual solutions for each child and redirect them to another activity. For example, we would encourage children to go play outside if they were too loud and wild in the classroom. We also had quiet areas where the children could go to and relax if they needed some time off from all the noise and chaos. Throughout the week/year we offered many different activities and projects but almost all of them were voluntary, so if a child wasn't interested in something or struggled to sit still, they could simply choose to do something else.
Edit: Vorschule was like you said: the kids got pulled out once or twice a week for about an hour. This was in Schleswig-Holstein.
Yes!! I didn’t really say that in the video so I’m glad you wrote that the difference is how the behavioral problems are handled. Instead of redirecting the children or have them go get out their energy outside, or cuddle with them when they’re sad, they get punished. They have behavioral charts in classrooms and every kid knows who the “bad” kids are. I disagree with their disciplinary policies SO much. It’s almost always the children that come from chaotic, unstable and abusive home that are the ones who misbehave. When they are the children that need the most love and support.
@@MyMerryMessyGermanLife I agree completely. Punishment is often the last thing these kids need! (Clear boundaries, transparent rules and consequences are important but it needs to be done in a caring, empathetic and age appropriate way).
first here in saxony preschool is handled the same. sometimes they group kids from more groups together, instead of just having 3 of one group. they usually have a special teacher coming for the learning. ours went to „numbers land“ and „letter country“ and the first approach is usually very actively. they draw on grounds and hop on their letters.
also instead of calling it punishment i would call it consequences here. it’s comes with the childs self awareness and self worth. with the social learning there always is trouble and problems, and sometimes redirecting is not solving it. however good kita erzieher will have consequences as last resort, not punishment. like if you cannot share a outside toy like a bike or such and create accidents all the time, they might be banned from it for a bit. however most tries to have the kids find solutions for their problems first. i think most german parents will help their kids voicing their issues to the kid, like „if you are mean to me, i really don‘t want to play with you anymore“ - „if you do not share your toy after a time, i‘ll find something different to play and not with you.“ and with the age groups the same is lived by the olders and younger can just copy. also the olders usually help with the conflicts and provide good solutions. basically kita should be the kid having a ton of siblings for the day. they learn they need to voice what they want but also listened, to others. so yeah big emphasis with social skills.
and yes eingewöhnung plays a big part in the kid feeling fine in the group before it‘s left alone. it‘s even a law here. a kid is not allowed to be left from first day. the time is not set, it‘s a very different for each kid and parent, but by law you get at least a 4 week period, most kitas make it longer if necessary. because of a change in kita leitung, pregbancies and of course corona on top our little ones had 6 different teachers in her group the last 1,5years. that is very rare and most kids are struggling. so they try very hard now finding a much more constant way.
Your videos are always so fun to watch! I surely can imagine how scary it must have been for Ella going to the Kindergarten with not knowing if she could handle it.
I‘m from NRW and we had to pay for the Kindergarten and yes, the amount depends on your income. In Düsseldorf for example which is just half an hour from where we live, you don‘t have to pay for the Kindergarten at all. So it really does depend in which city you are.
I have two kids and my younger doughter who is now 11 years old, used to hate going to the Kindergarten. I remember one day I brought her to her class, I told her to put her Hausschuhe on and she was so angry, crying and didn’t want to stay. And all of a sudden she took her shoe and threw it after the Kindergarten teacher. I was so embarrassed and told the Kindergarten teacher that I‘m sorry for the bad behavior of my daughter. Than she asked me for a talk in the office. And I was surprised what she told me. Instead of being mad at me or my daughter she told me that my daughter is a very emotional person and she doesn’t know how to handle all these different feelings. I should be patient with her and be calm in situation like this. I didn’t expect the teacher saying that and was very glad that she seems to exactly know „her“ kids in her class and is able to assess my child.
You all have a nice Sunday!
Greets from Moers
Just let her watch Cartoons in German or "Die Sendung mit der Maus" to learn the language. Thats something a lot of Families watch together on Sundays. You can also watch it from the Mediathek of the channel. Im not sure when it airs since i dont watch TV. But i watched it too when i was young and a lot of german kids watch it.
Damn "Sendung mit der Maus" is still being made? I watched those almost every sunday same with "Löwenzahn" best shows for Kids to learn new things.
@@Spikebhaal No nonsense explanations of cool topics. Die Sendung mit der Maus was the best. I'd take a well done understandable explanation of how casting steel works over anthropomorphised talking hasbro merchandise any day.
I grew up in Hesse and my last year of Kindergarten was similar to what you described. We learned the difference between left and right, how to use scissors and glue, how to tie our shoe laces - stuff you need to know for school.
I deeply appreciate your profound respect for your children as children and intelligent human beings. My kindergarten experience caused me to refuse to learn to read or write, largely because of my total distrust of my teacher who humiliated the one Latina in our class (the rest of us were the “right” color - white) in front of our entire class and quite specifically in a racist way. Naturally I didn’t understand racism at the time, but I did know that the teacher was being completely unfair. And when I say “refuse”, it was a quite conscious decision on my part. I rejected utterly any support she attempted to offer me and this support was primarily focused on learning to read and write. I spent two more years with bad teachers, one of whom who told me that I was not to answer questions in class because I spoke “baby talk” - whatever that was! My education was finally rescued when my third grade teacher turned out to be a genius in human relationships. She was compassionate, kind and very observant, plus she offered us “hands on” learning experiences. Also, I was taken under the wings of the girl who became my lifelong friend. She refused to accept that I could not read, introduced me to the public library and the “Blue and Green Fairytale” books and that was that. By fourth grade I was reading a book a day. Don’t worry, I still got plenty of physical activity in the forms of swimming (I purely LOVE to be in water) and games like “Red Rover, Red Rover let .... come over” or freeze tag.
Oh how very sad - I’m sorry you had that experience. This just goes to show how teachers play a profound role in our confidence and personal development.
Thank you so much for your openness. I personally think it's what we need Most. Lots and lots of fellows go through hardship. But by being quiet the suffering is passed from one generation to another, as in my Case. By opening Up the issue loses its threat and literally the defining power over our lifes. Glad you found a good teacher in the end.
Why bless you Susanna! I totally agree with you. Sharing truth is an enormous part of any healing process.
I did not go to Kindergarten as a child in the 60ies as I was very lively, unruly, and more of a tomboy than the girl I was supposed to be. So the nuns in the (one and only) Kindergarten in our German suburb denied me admittance after just one day of trial, which was a burden on my mom. But I had a very good Italian friend living next door. He was one year younger than me and we stayed a lot at his place or on the quiet residential streets nearby. I picked up some Italian and though I never had a formal education in the language, I get along quite fine when I'm in Italy (e.g. when we made our "exam trip" to Rome in grade 12, I figured out how to obtain cheaper bus tickets by just reading the information about it at the bus stops (only in Italian).
When I was 5 and a half, we moved into the house of my mother's cousin, who took me under her wings. We played board games and she read books to me. My favourite was an edition of Grimm's Fairy Tales from the 1930ies with lots of gorgeous drawings, all printed in the Gothic Fracture scripture. When I started school half a year later, I could read Gothic Fracture but not Latin script, lol. In the end, I turned out quite well.
One of my sons is an Asperger and after his diagnosis (which he only got when he was 12 years old, despite already having problems in Kindergarten and regularly visiting a pediatric psychiatric facility since he was 7) he once a week visited a special group for autistic children age 6-18. In the beginning, the older children (and children who got their diagnosis earlier) helped him, later on, he helped the younger children, which helped him to develop self-esteem. The concept of mixed age groups has many advantages, even in a school environment. There is a "Laborschule" (in Bielefeld as far as I remember) where they have mixed age classes with good success.
I was an Au Pair in America the last 12 months. In february my hostfamily took jobs they got offered and also moved their whole family to Germany (not far from where I grew up actually) inkluding their kids (3 and 5 y. old). None of them spoke German really and I found it very interesting when they told me, that the 5 year old had a hard time at first, because she set a similar pressure on herself as Ella, while the 3 year old coped with the situation pretty quickly. He, as a kid much closer to the age of learning how to speak just knew, that he can communicate with other kids without really talking. The older one had to relearn that first.
My son is half American - he is not a kid anymore, he is 30 - but I am a single mom for all of his life. I atleast when he was a child and teenager had a very good contact with his father and family who we visited each year for some weeks in my holidays (it helps when you have 6 weeks holidays each year). I tried to get him to be able to speak or understand both languages from the beginning - English was always a part of our life as I learned him a lot of words, read him easy English stories, we sometimes banned German during dinner or when driving in the car, I learned him songs and rhymes and heard just English music and often English radio - and of course visited the USA (North Carolina) - but until he was about 7 or 8 he just understood English very well but did not speak. That suddenly started but when it did he pretty soon was very fluent with it and had a Southern accent. You did not recognize that he was a German. I had some books and games in both languages - like e.g. some of the Little Critter series. Maybe the boys would enjoy to read her easy books in German - but you might look into some series of German audio books - Here is a list of German audiobooks
Benjamin Blümchen
Bibi & Tina
Bibi Blocksberg
Bob der Baumeister
Bobo Siebenschläfer
Conni
Der kleine Drache Kokosnuss
Maybe you could thing about a Toniesbox - in my eyes it is expensive but it might be easier to handle for kids. You can switch the language to English and I think they have started to export their idea to England/the US now, too, and have downloads in English. tonies.com
And yes, kids are different. Some love to go to Kindergarten from the first moment - others do not. I did not really have the choice as I was starting to work again very early - at the beginning I partly worked at my old workplace in the morning (he was at a daymom then) - in the afternoon I worked at my parents company until he was 3. I changed workplace when he was 3 and was working fulltime in Frankfurt (a one-hour-trip each way every day) - he got into Kindergarten where he spent the mornings and was at my Mom's house on the two afternoons she had off and at my day mom the other days. My son loved it everywhere - but he never wanted to leave the place he was at - in the morning our home, at lunchtime the Kindergarten and in the late afternoons my Mom or Daymom - and it needed always a lot of persuasion to get him from one place to the other.
Glad to hear that Ella is settling in! It can be really overwhelming. I think sometimes people underestimate how stressful it is for young children because we seem to not take young children all that serious in general. When I was a kid, I only moved to Germany from Switzerland and even though I could understand most of what was being said, I didn't speak a single word for weeks. (That's actually a common thing, it's referred to as a "silent period" in second language acquisition).
That’s a very good point - how we don’t take children seriously and understand that they can be quite scared and have complicated emotions as well.
@@MyMerryMessyGermanLife I think part of that is that we as grown-ups know how to face problems and the kids don't. So to step in their shoes and see how somethng looks like a mountain to them while we regard it as molehill. But I guess as parents you know that very well.
yes, just because children learn faster than adults do, it doesn't mean it's easy for them!
@@MyMerryMessyGermanLife Maybe it´s also that we as adults have already learnt how to handle our emotions, what they mean or how we can "undo" them. As a kid it must be so scary having maybe feelings or emotions youve never felt before but no coping mechanism to make you feel better.....
My daughter loved Vorschule. She loved to be seperated from the smaller children in a small group and doing special stuff. My son didn't like Vorschule. He wasn't interested in drawing lines and creativity. He wanted to play or learn academic skills like maths, reading and writing, but they didn't. So he learned maths from his elder sister when she did her homework. For my children in the '90 Vorschule was only once a week for an hour. It depends on the Kindergarten and only on the region or state.
The best of german Kindergarten and Vorschule is that there is no pressure. The only pressure comes from parents which are frightened their children don't learn enough in Kindergarten to manage elemantary school.
It’s interesting to see how similar kindergartens in Germany and Austria are. I live in the south of Austria and both my kids were born here. In Austria many primary schools also have a “Vorschule”, which is a sort of transitional year between Kindergarten and 1st grade. My daughter started school in 1st grade but had a lot of trouble adapting to the new school routine. After a few weeks and talks with school teachers, it was decided that she would go to Vorschule instead. It was the best decision we made - even though she was 6,5 she just wasn’t ready for 1st grade and this additional year made a world of difference. My son started school this year and he’s also attending “Vorschule”.
I love your videos and sharp observations about our school system (Kita included(. I am a German mom of two living in Saxony and your Kita experience is exactly the same as mine here in Leipzig. Keep posting, it helps me appreciate our system so much more to hear you guys reflecting on it.
There are so many good things about the way it’s done here in Germany!
You can be so proud of Ella how she managed the start. Sweetie. At 5 year old I passed holiday in Denmark.. when going to a playground the small ones go without words, by showing...
I'm loving your videos, thank you! I've been living in Bayern for 6 years now (coming from Argentina), 4 kids about the same age as yours, and I am having the same impressions you have, I am "shocked" by the same things -especially by the fact that they are SO independent being so young!!
With regards to your question, our Kindergarten is exactly the same as what you describe (play play play, and they take the "Vorschulkinder" for a couple of hours a week as you explain). And it´s free for Vorschulkinder; younger ones pay but no much, according to salaries.
Parents are invited to "Frühstuck" once a month (only 3 are allowed each time) where they do the same things the kids do on a regular day. Pia (my 4 yo) sometimes comes home and tells that "xx was really loud today and was making some "Schmann", but never that this XX was punished in any way. Yes they play in the garden every single day, no matter the weather. And I love the way they end up eating "healthy"; they kind of suggest you give them fruits and vegetables, and Vollkornbrot (when I was a kid, everything was about cookies for our "Brotzeit")
But what I absolutely love the most about my days here is that I've definitely learned to enjoy and love (and live) nature! A M A Z I N G!!
Keep enjoying life over here and thanks again for your videos -which I send to my friends back home so that they can get a glimpse of my life here! xx
Oh that’s right! We completely forgot the part about them eating healthy. Huge difference to the experience we had in the US!
Kids adapt so fast to new environments. We moved to Austria when our son was 4 (my husband and my stepson are from Scotland and I am from austria).
Our son didnt speak any german when we first moved but within 3 months he was more or less fluent. It still took some time for him to figure out the artikels der, die and das and some other basic grammer but day to day talking and all he needed for kindergarden was fine after 3 months.
He is now 8 and he is speaking the same local dialect as all the other kids.
Also living in the countryside was new for him as we moved from Edinburgh. I didnt expect it to make such a big difference as I grew up here and I didnt know it any different. But it had such a big impact on his developement and he got so much more independent as he has much more freedom now.
Wow, fluent in three months! That wasn’t the case with Ella. She’s not fluent yet, but we are getting there.
@@MyMerryMessyGermanLife we were very surprised too. However we had the bug advantage that most of my family speaks no or little english, so he was confronted with the language most of the day.
I am sure you all will get there soon and latest in school it will be second nature for Ella 😀
I miss the hikes and bicycle rides I used to go on in Germany. Through towns, backroads, and woods.
They are truly the best!
I usually answer in English but this time I do it in German. Ihr macht das hervorragend mit eueren Kindern und wenn ich ehrlich bin , bin ich sehr beeindruckt wie ruhig ihr manchmal bleibt , Respekt .Macht weiter so ich schaue gerne euch über die Schulter wie ihr das so bewältigt in einen fremden Land für euch .
It hasnt always been easy but it is a great experience! We are starting to feel more at home now.
Thank you for those long videos. As an elementary school teacher it is really interesting and helpful to hear what might be a problem for families when they are new to the whole system.
Oh I’m so glad you watched this, as an elementary school teacher here! I’m sure there is so much you could add to this conversation. If you ever want to do a live video together, just shoot me a message on Instagram! ❤️
I remember watching a short news story about a preschool or daycare center in the US that had video cameras in every room and the parents could log in at any time and watch what was happening. I was so shocked by that! As somebody who has worked in childcare, this sounds like a super stressful workplace if you are being watched every second. Also, some of the preschool practitioners talked about how they use this to manage challenging behaviours, basically telling the kid "You mom/dad can see what you are doing. Just wait until they come to get you in the afternoon, you will be in so much trouble". Which I think is not appropriate at all.
Oh wow, yeah, that’s awful! Threatening a kid like that. The problem is the teachers are using old fashioned punishing techniques, instead of redirecting the child and addressing the root of their unwanted behavior. Many parents in the USA still spank their children, which we totally disagree with.
Learn by fear... Doesn't really work.
Because the effects wear off once the reason for fear is gone.
Those people will learn to do forbidden things secretly, and will break the rules once they feel like no one has the power to punish them.
If they do things right, they sometimes do this only to avoid fear or seek praise, not because it just is the right thing.
Given the nature of US society I have a hard time understanding why anybody would choose to work in a position where they are responsible for kids at all.
I was in Kindergarden right after the unification of Germany. It was hard as a kid. A lot of punishments. This hopefully changed a lot nowadays in east Germany. Now that I am becoming a father I want the best experiences for my kid.
I’m sorry you had that experience abs I do hope it’ll be better for your child.
I think you could attribute this to regional differences. Bavaria and Baden-Wurtenburg are different from each other for sure but very different from other regions due to history and culture.
A lot of parents are not aware that Kindergarten teachers in NRW (possibly in all of Germany) are supposed to create a file for each child in their care that describes the child's development (progress reports, pictures of the child, drawings and crafts by the child, etc). Parents have the right to receive this file at the end of the child's time in Kindergarten.
I am a primary school headmistress and previously worked at a school with many foreign students. We often asked the parents to share this Kindergarten-file with us because (if the Kindergarten actually did a good job of it) it would give us a comprehensive impression of the child even if the parents did not have very advanced German skills.
Generally, sharing this kind of information when starting school is essential so that each child can begin this new chapter in their life with the best possible conditions. Many parents hide "bad" things about their children because "the Kindergarten teacher is prejudiced and doesn't know my child like I do". Even if that is true, primary school teachers will notice if your child is capable of doing something even though their file says they can't.
I have worked with a lot of teachers that were frustrated and overworked but every single teacher I've met wanted "their" children to succeed. We take pride in their small and big accomplishments. We delight in their lightbulb moments. If I teach a child the same thing 10 different ways and it still doesn't understand it, my first thought is how I can improve my teaching. Whether I have done enough. Of course not all teachers are the same and there might be some genuinely horrible ones out there but they certainly aren't the norm.
Das sollten mal die Menschen lesen, die behaupten, Lehrer würden zu wenig für ihr Geld tun . Es ist eben nicht nur die "Arbeit am Kind" sondern eben auch die Dokumentation die dazugehört. Die sieht nur kaum jemand...
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People who claim that teachers don't do enough for their money should read this. It's not just the "work on the child" but also the documentation that goes with it. Hardly anyone sees them...
Hello dear, very beautiful video, Before covid I visited Germany every years,
Love to be there .
Have a nice day and stay safe.
Lovely family
I hope you’ll be able to return again soon!
In my Kindergarten, Vorschule was kind of optional. I was interested in writing so i was shown how to write my name, etc. but I never learned math in vorschule, because i wasn't interested. So I could have learned about math writing nature, or take part in sport aktivitys, but every "Event" I could also just go outside and play if I wasn't interested at the moment. But this was for my whole time in kindergarten.
Tldr: My Kindergarten provided the possibilaty to learn a lot, but every kid was free to just go and play if they like.
I am a Erzieherin in Berlin and I run a Tagespflege with my kolleague. We have 10 children between 1 and 5 years old.
Preschool for me are the years prior to school, not just the last year of Kita.
Play opens the world to the children and is their job. If you watch them you see when the children open their window to learn about letters, numbers or whatever.
That is our time to provide information to them, not beforehand. Social emotional development is the most important. Self-reliance, resilience is crucial development to a child.
It is also important to learn to make their own choices and to live with the consequences. They must know to stand up for themselves and they must be able to say no and stop to others and not rely on the grown-ups opinions. For instance if I want to change a diaper on our two year Olds, I will ask for permission and if they say no I'll have to come back later. Of course it happens and they pee thru but this way they learn to tell me when it is the right time. We will not force them into doing things but we will make the consequences clear...
Okay you don't want to eat, this is your hunger you will have to deal with. Or no rain pants, your pants will get wet and we are not going back for wet pants....
Of course it is done when the child is ready to understand what consequences are. We work our way up to making own decisions. Trust your children in their abilities.
As Steiner once said
In Ehrfurcht empfangen, in Liebe erziehen und in Freiheit entlassen.
Have a good weekend.
Excellent video about German Kindergarten, and nice to hear about the differences to American Kindergartens / preschools. I'm kind of hoping you are going to do some kind of analysis between American elementary school and German Grundschule.
Yes! That’ll be for next week. Glad you enjoyed this one! 😍
I lost my first two teeth in Kindergarten because the "Kuschel-ecke" (A part of the room with matrasses on the ground, blankets and Stuffed animals to just relax or nap during 'free time') was right next to a metal Heater. A boy grabbed me and purpousfully knocked my head against it like five times before the teacher even came looking. He got a stern talk, his mother was called and he had to apologize. thats it. My mother came too, asked me if I was fine, I truthfully said yes, so she left again xD
No one ever got into real trouble in Kindergarten here, you get corrected and they explained to him, why it's wrong. Punishment is at no use if the kid doesn't understand why its bad.
A boy cut off a chunk of my hair in Kindergarten. Same thing happened and he wasn't allowed to use scissors without a Kindergärtnerin around for a while afterwards because he had tried to cut people and not just their hair a few times before he succeeded to do it on mine but that was about it. My mom gave me a haircut and both of us kids survived. He was later in the same elementary school class as me too.
Also: punishment is actually not allowed, as it is an act of violence and the right to a violence free upbringing is a constitutional right in Germany since 2004
You're doing such a good job with your videos.
I was just like "What? That was ALL?" when reaching the end, when I realized it was already 30 minutes.
I could still have watched another half an hour without noticing the time passing by.
I often think "man, please get to the point" in others' videos, and start skipping forward - that NEVER happens to me with YOUR videos, I just realize. In yours there's so many points - and I still can't get enough.
Anyway, it's always a pleasure to see - or hear about - the progress your kids are making.
But I also love to notice the progress YOU, the parents, are making. You might not be aware of it that much, but to me it seems you happend to find exactly the spot where you're fitting like a hand in a glove - by location, by culture, by just anything. I seriously think you've nailed it.
Oh I'm so glad our VERY long ramblings aren't boring you! Thank you so much for your kind comment and for your support of our videos. Yeah we really have found the perfect town, neighbourhood and country for us for now. We are very blessed.
For me it would be really interesting to see how kevin is doing at his new job in germany. Like how is it to work in germany and is it any different as in the us? Is their any language barrier? Maybe for your next videos.
Okay great, thanks for the suggestion!
Thank you for your analysis! Childhood education definitely is a very complex matter, with so many pros and cons to different systems. I just quickly wanted to add my personal experience from a similar, playbased education system here in Sweden. Over here, kids are in prescool until the year they turn 6, there is then one year "vorschule" (förskoleklass) and then first grade starts at age 7. Our system is also built on the idea of children's need to play, and I completely agree, because for most children that does seem best. But there is a downside. Because we are so heavily focused on the fact that children are supposed to play, there is very little recognition of some children's need for more advanced intellectual stimulation. I was very passionate about learning and playing intellectually from a very young age, and longed to start school from the age of 2. My parents tried to ask for more stimulation, but were told that I "needed to be a kid and play freely". What we're forgetting if that is our only narrative is: why do children play? Well, children play games that stimulate their growth and understanding of the world! All that academic stuff WAS my way of playing, it was the way forward in my cognitive development. I wasn't interested in the same games as the other children because that wasn't stimulating for me anymore. Unfortunately, I didn't get to "start learning letters" until the förskoleklass, by which time I had already been reading independently for over 2 years (as you can understand it would take many years before I got to come to school and learn something new instead of doing endless repetitions of things I already knew. A situation few of us adults would ever accept to be placed in!) This has had a longlasting negative effect on my life.
While I am in no way opposed to a play based system (I would have been very bored in the situation that your son described from his american, academic preschool too!), the most important thing is that we always keep our minds open enough to see the children that don't fit in the same box as most others, and never let one sole practice be the answer.
very interesting and so important to be aware of !
Thank your for the video! I grew up an Hamburg and Vorschule ist quite a bit different there. It is not part of Kindergarten, but Grundschule. You have a classroom in the building of the Grundschule and a teacher. You go there every day for the entire school year (for me it was from 8am to 1pm I think) like a Schulkind and get prepared for what it's like to go to school. Afterwards I got picked up by my kindergarten teacher and spend the rest of the afternoon in kindergarten until my parents picked me up. It is not mandatory to go to Vorschule, but for some kids, e.g. who have an international background and need to learn German, or kids whose birthdays are later in the year and thus seem too young to go to school yet, it is recommended. I really enjoyed Vorschule and when I entered first grade in Grundschule I already knew my way around the school and had an easy start there.
Ah okay, so good to know how it's done in Hamburg!
In Germany there is a plethora of concepts of child learning. Most institutions (Krippe, Kindergarten, Hort) center on pedagogic concepts that enable the children to learn through play and experience of their environment. Academic learning concepts usually come into play in the year before the kids enter school. I am very glad that at least in this instance, childcare is modern and based on scientific facts (unlike learning in the school system).
In the Ostholstein region in the north of Germany it's exactly the same. Vorschule is in the last year of Kindergarden. But it's still play based.
But as I mentioned before some say that this is not really enough. It's not suitable for balancing the social differences that the kids have when entering the school.
Those from educational households are well prepared, those from educationally disadvantaged households are not.
Despite everything in my opinion playing should stay in the foreground.
This also doesn't mean that they should teach reading or writing in preschool lessons. The focus should be the development of basic skills such as drawing, usage of ruler and pencil, using the scissors, basic motorical development such as being able to walk backwards etc...
OH 😉
oh cmon even less educated households went from kindergarden to volksschule, why should they be less prepared
@@thejumper7282 is there still such a thing as 'Volksschule' in Germany ? I haven't heard that term for decades .
@@thejumper7282 just ask a primary school teacher...
There are children there, who can't handle the scissors. There are children there who cannot tie their shoes. There are children there who are unable to listen. There are children there who never had learned to ask. There are children there who have forgotten how to be curious.
And there are children there who can do it all well.
With the first group you can't do maths or reading. They first have to learn the basics or they will never succeed properly. But or primary schools in general are not prepared to deal with such big differences.
Fun fact: Almost every fifth student in Germany cannot read properly at the end of fourth grade according to a study of GEW.
This also has to do with the fact that a lot of children don't go to any form of Kindergarden at all. But also for some of those who do, the funding Programm in Vorschule isn't enough.
@@jensbernhard1761 in Bavaria they have a language test before school. If they fail they have to go another year to Kindergarten or to go to a training (I don't know exactly which way they treat that lack of skills). Then you are allowed to enter school. And yes, there are German children who fail that test, too.
Hi, great video as always. I would like to see a video about Kevins work experience in Germany, about the life/work balance, how it is with his collegues, etc…
Okay sure, we could touch on that. Only thing is that he works for an international company so the culture of it really isn’t German and he speaks in English.
When I grow up (Germany, 90's) Kindergarten was just a day care. And there was no Vorschule. It wasn't necessary - it was the job of the regular school.
I just finished "workin´ moms" on Netflix and I don´t know if that was exaggerated but at one point the 3 year old son gets suspended for cutting someones hair off or biting or something. And watching that I just send a small prayer to the kindergarten god that this wasn´t actually how things were being handled in the US :´D
That’s not far off, actually! 😰😰
Academic preschools yes it is. The play based preschools no it's not. There are different kinds of preschools throughout the US. For example my nephews preschool was a combination of structure based and play based. His preschool said "you are doing this right now." Play with blocks, play with dolls, play outside, sing, etc. It wasnt allowing kids chose an activity based on their interest. Not all kids are cut out for allowing them to chose their activity. My nephew needed direction and so did I. If we didnt have direction we would have just sat there.
Your wonderful channel was recommended to me and I enjoy your content. I am from a part and generation in Germany where we didn't have English. I learned it myself over the past 3 years. It really opened my world. And I think it is the same for you and your kids. I am 50 now. It's very interesting to me to see/ hear all the differences between the countries. 💓
Oh very cool! How did you learn English? That’s amazing you’ve done it in 3 years. Thanks so much for watching!
@@MyMerryMessyGermanLife I watch and listen a lot of vlogs or live streams here and over on Twitch. Most of the content I watch is in English nowadays. I also joined a community 3 years ago which speaks English the whole time during conventions or on VRChat, no matter where we are in the world. I like English a lot which makes it easierto learn. It is spoken so much softer than Getman and easy to learn. (In my opinion at least) ... I still make lots of mistakes tho, but I am getting better and better.
Near peer mentoring: Now that you mentioning it I noticed that very often our daughters explained things to each other. And it went both ways: Older to younger and the other way around.
In cities where there are very full classes and very different social groups some problems do arise in primary schools - kids who haven't as much chance to run around freely like yours have, watch too much TV (which is not always age appropriate, some parents just do not take good care, some can't as they work) - and take their energy back to the class-room where it disturbs when you have 30 kids.
I remember, when my mother was in a care home, once a month the kids from the Kindergarten directly opposite from the home, would come in with self baked cakes or cookies.
When I went to Kindergarten many years ago at the age of four, I startet to stutter. As a single child it was too much for me. My parents decided I should stay at home for another year and than I actually was READY to go.
Giving Ella her time is the right decision, each child is unique. Still many children have working moms...
they have no other choice. Love your videos
Yes we are very lucky that we can take our time, since I can work from home and part-time. Not all mothers can do that.
I'm 33 so it's been quite a while since my kindergarten time and it's propably quite outdated ^^ I also grew up in East Germany. And in East Germany after unification there really was no pre school. All kids learned their first letters and numbers in first grade together. I don't think any of us have ever written a word before that, because kindergarten was all play based. My first grade teacher was a sweet older lady and she would place the letters of the alphabet all over the classroom and let us find them if she asked for one specifically. They are such nice memories to me! And yep, no lag in our developement in learning reading and writing in first grade for the first time 😉 I absolutely loved it actually! I've been a big book worm ever since all my life!
"I'm 33... I also grew up in the DDR."
2021-1990= 31. So you were grown up with 2 years?
I think you were to young, you were not in Kindergarten in the GDR but in the Krippe.
You can't compare what happened before 1989, between 1989 and 1990 and the years after reunification.
Preschool in the GDR was more about practising skills for handwriting and observing. Like going out and watch a construction side from the sidewalk and back drawing pictures about it. I remember that. Was 12 when the wall came down.
Preparatiosn for school were:
- to rhyme (can't remember)
- solving riddles (can't remmeber)
- painting with water colour and crayons (we did this)
- counting with counting sticks (I remember the sticks)
- name and compare quantities (can't remember)
- first handwriting practise (I have done this)
- traffic education and education for tidiness and cleanliness (we have done this)
- painting, drawing, crafting and knead with Plasticine (did this more often in the last year)
- practise tongue twisters (I can't remember)
- observing something and telling what happened (yes, like the example with the construction site)
- singing (we did this)
virtuelles-ddrmuseum.de/seiten/ddrkindergarten.htm
@@helloweener2007 You're right I totally confused that. I was born in the DDR but my kindergarten time and so one was in East Germany. I will correct that.
I think it's really important to shine a light on the fact, that moving to a new country with a different language is in fact not easy for anybody, even though it can be an easier process for children than for adults. So it's ok to not fit in at first and to need time to adjust, I think you did a great job with Ella, helping her to adjust in her own time. I'm also really looking forward to hear how your boys are doing in school.
I also think that moving to another country with children makes some things a lot of things more complicated, as you have to care not only for your things but for your kids, their schooling and so on. But on the other hand it gives you opportunities to engange with others (if that is the right wording) you otherwise would not have had. Maybe you can make a video in the future about how both of you are seeing yourself in this country? Do you feel at home yet? How is work with German colleges for Kevin?
Anyways, I love your videos as they give me so much insight on different topics and things to think about. Not only is is really fascinating to see my own country from a "forgeigner's" perspective, but I also love the fact that your videos deal with all these different topics in such a positive and non-judgemental way. And besides that it's really interesting to see the differences and similarities concerning different German regions or Bundesländer. I learn something new every week.
Thank you so much, I’m so glad our videos help us all think about things in a different way. We just love these cultural discussions we have with our followers after each video! We are learning so much from all of you.
And yes you’re so right - moving to another country is a really huge adjustment for anyone. Even if you speak the same language it can be difficult as there are some cultural differences.
One super important bit of information before coming to Germany and relying on Kindergarten: Without specific, up-to-date information on your community, don't be too confident you will get a place! In 2019, it was reported that there was a deficit of 320,000 Kindergarten places in Germany overall. COVID has caused a special situation, but it's safe to say that there are still not enough places.
Twenty years ago, some people had their unborn children put on waiting lists. This was in part in order to get a place in the Kindergarten of first choice. And since then there has been an offensive to increase the number of places. But still, this is one of the things you may want to arrange before moving to Germany, to prevent a nasty surprise in your first weeks.
Yeah good point! We didn’t mention that at all so I’m glad you brought it up.
I worked as an Au Pair in England and I was so surprised that my 4-year old already lernt how to write and read. However, the school day was really long. I picked my hostchild up at 4 and he always fell asleep in the car. Then he had a short break and after that it was homework time. It was torture... I hated to pressure him so much because he was tired and just wanted to play but I had to make him do his exercises. After dinner he had TV time but the actual playing time was cut so short. I didn't like this education system. I also came across those studies you talked about. The German system is far from perfect but at least children can have lots of playtime
I agree with you the school day is longer (usually about 9 until 3) but most mothers work so the children would have longer days outside the home anyway. At the age of 4 and 5 they will be playing most of the day with a free choice of what to do but with short group sessions ( no longer than 15 or 20 minutes) to introduce letter sounds and maths skills. I have never heard of homework for that age of children, other than reading a short book or a few flash cards with their parent if they want to. Most English reception classes have access to outdoor areas too so children can choose to play outside, whatever the weather. I think in the past English schools would have been more formal but that is not the case now.
@@juliebrooke6099 oh okay thanks for telling me. So it wasn't official homework then but 'homework' his parents wanted him to do...and since I was the Au Pair I had to do it with him every evening. He had to read, practice the alphabet and had to do some calculations and practice writing. Really glad to hear that they have playtime in school!
don't know if you two are into politics, but scince we had a election a few weeks ago, I think it would be very interesting (especially for your German followers) to learn about your impressions on that. not talking about own political opinions, but common differences in political atmosphere & Wahlkampf- that you noticed. As far as I know we germans are mostly dissatisfied with our political atomosphere, structures etc. - as well as ungrateful for them sometimes. Would love to learn about your culture shocks in connection to German politics. Greetings from Germany Dresden!
That would be interesting to talk about, because we do really appreciate the politics in Germany. In the USA, politics have gotten very bitter, nasty and divided. It’s right or left - people go to either extreme and it’s not healthy. It’s very stressful. So we love how there are six parties here so it’s not as easy for the country to be divided in half.
That be good video. Hearing there impression on German politics.
While that would be of interest, I would like to point out that not only might their point of view not mesh well with your own, their everyday experience may also be vastly different. Living in Bavaria is not very comparable politics-wise as living in Saxony, for example.
@@guyro3373 Stimmt, hier laufen nicht so viele Nazis rum …
@@hape3862 I did not say (or actually mean) that. It's simply that local politics differ a lot between regions and states, so that the opinions of the family in Bavaria might have little connection to those of "Max Mustermann" from Dresden, Saxony, or "Erika Musterfrau" from Hamburg, and "Kim Mustermensch" from Berlin, etc.
Also, depending on how closely one tracks the politics (e.g., whether your only source of information is the short Tagesschau summary or similar, or whether you are actually actively engaged in local politics) also has a large impact on the perception. [And I don't mean to criticise Tagesschau, but they can only show a tiny segment of what is under discussion in politics, simply because they lack the time to do more]
Lovely video. My best friend is a teacher at a German kindergarten, currently for the children under the age of 3 - not every kindergarten has those groups, but they are getting more and more common. For the older kids, they still have their groups like you mentioned, but only for the first couple of houres of the day and the rest is more like an open-house-concept. The kids can go where they want, do what they want and there are different areas in the kindergarten, where the teachers set up activities, like gym, arts, crafts, garden and so on. The very small kids under the age of 3 are always in their group and always go outside or to the gym and other activities with theirs teachers, as they need more supervision.
What might be interesting is that even though it looks as if they are just playing the whole day, the teachers monitor the children very closely and take ergular notes on their development, so if anything seems to differ from the usual developmental stages, they consult with their collegues and then talk to the parents. They might then encourage the child to participate in activities, which will help them either deepen a special skill they have shown or help with problems they might have shown. So for example when a child shows problems with their balance, but it is not so severe that you should immediately consult a doctor, they just play games that will strenghthen their balance-skills.
Speaking to my friend always fascinates me, because I never knew how much work the kindergarten teachers put in every day and how well they know the abillities of each and every kid in their care. They always come up with new creative ways to make the learning experience fun for the children.
Ah so good to know about the teachers and how they take notes! I have noticed how they do that in circle (Morgen Kreis) time. They have a notebook out and are writing as the kids sing and count, etc.
I like how you sometimes played with the depth of field in your ambience shots at the beginning of the film.
Oooo you have a good eye for film!
In Berlin, there is no obligatory Vorschule. Depending on the concept of the Kita, they can offer it and some Kitas I know actually do. But typically, there is no school-like, academical Vorschule. They focus on cutting, holding sizzors the right way, following all types of lines, holding a pen the right way. Some Kitas I know work based on the "Situationsansatz" (situation based concept = pick up an interest shown by the children). So if the kids want to learn about letters and numbers, than the Erzieher would pick it up. My eldest son went to a Kita with Situationsansatz and in his last year he learned how paper is made (papyrus paper, "our" paper), they learned about how writing was invented (starting with cave painting till nowadays what you learn in school), they went to a printing factory... It was very interesting. Another project they did, was creating an alphabet for their group room (in the Kita it is always called group room since they are not in school and therefore not in a class). They heard the sounds and had to come up with words that start with that sounds. Then they drew a picture of that word. Long story short, as an Erzieher (which I am too btw) you should aim for main things. All things academic come with school.
Interesting 🤔, did they completely remove the Vorschule (unless the KiTa offers something along the lines) ?
When I grew up in Berlin the Vorschule was a class in the Grundschule with less lessons per day than in first grade and iirc the concept was something between play based Kindergarten and regular classes of Grundschule. But that was decades ago 😅...
@@matzek.3220 It is completely removed. I don't know when exactly it happened, but my oldest son is turning 13 very soon and he did not attend Vorschule, so it was done before 2014.
You became a real video artist!!! Whenever I see your footage, I want to become a member of your lovely and awesome family!!! Cherish what you own, but you already do, no complaining. 😂
I always enjoy the ambience scenes at the beginning of your videos. You have such a great eye!
Thank you so much! I appreciate that. ❤️
Our daughter is 19 months and in Kindergarten since about two months. When we pick her up, the teachers sometimes tell us if anything special happened that we need to know, eg that she didn’t like lunch and might be hungry, and sometimes just a glimpse of what she did during the day. We can also ask if we have specific questions. In our Kreis Düren childcare is free for all kids except for families with especially high income. We only pay for food that they get there.
Love your videos! Such great information and it is fun seeing your family live and explore Germany.
Hi!! Thank you so much! We enjoy your videos, too. They are very well done!
Brit living in Switzerland since 2001 here - stumbled across your videos recently. We're slightly different in that our son was born in Switzerland so he's been in the Swiss system from the beginning. Nevertheless, as foreigners it has been an adventure for us learning about the Swiss education system - which has many parallels with your experiences in Germany. The children are expected to get to school or kindergarten by themselves - no parents dropping them off in cars. Massive emphasis on doing "risky" things - for example children taking turns to prepare the "Znüni" (morning snack) using sharp knives to chop vegetables. Fortnightly walks into the forest with the teachers where the children take their pocket knives, trim sticks, light a fire and cook a sausage.
Hats off to you and the children for embracing German life, not taking the easy way out with international school.
Really cool observation, especially regarding Ella's hard time putting herself into stress not being able to communicate as she didn't speak German as all. During such hard time it helps alot just to let her know there's nothing wrong and to encourage her to not giving up in a positive way, so I think you as parents did a great job as well. In hindsight it helps her alot in her personal growth and how to deal with hard times in a whole. And I'm pretty sure there will be some time soon when she will start to help or teach you in those pronounciation challenges you might have. So she will be the teacher and you the students - overall she will make you even more proud of her.
Yes! Ella’s pronunciation is already really good and she does correct me! I love it - I play along like I don’t know the word, because it really boosts her confidence in German. And yes, what great lessons she’s learned through this experience of how to succeed in a great challenge.
It's okay, my 5 yr old son still speaks mostly English in kindergarten, we don't pressure him and he absolutely loves going to kindergarten even if he doesn't understand German that much yet...hugs from 🇦🇹
When I was in Kindergarten they had a voluntary pre-school option, which I did try out for a few times but the caretakers realized I was getting bored and they let me go back to the other group again. My parents had already taught me how to write and read a bit so the pre school stuff was just too easy for me. I’m glad I could easily switch back to playing for another year instead of having to do boring worksheets. However, I do think teaching kids how to read, write basic stuff and doing tasks quietly is important to make first grade a bit easier.
My mother, brother and i moved to the uk when i was 12. He was 14. Our English wasn’t great. My brother was the type to just chat away in broken english not caring if he made mistakes. I was more shy and didn’t speak much for about 6 months until i was fluent enough to not make mistakes.
when I was a kid in Germany, vorschule was in the afternoons. during the day all kids still played together..
In former times Kids were sent directly from Kindergarten to 1st. Class. Kids that were supposed to have problems in the first class were sent to the Vorschule. But most Kids learn writing and maths in first clans.
I would like a video about the kids' progression in learning German and how the boys are getting on with school. And if they are up for it, they could tell us themselves in German?
Yes we will be doing more videos speaking in German soon! If the kids are up for it - we only want them to be on TH-cam if they want to. Our oldest does not want to be filmed so naturally we respect that.
Our daughter was born in Austria, but we only speak romanian at home. SO when she started kindergarten it was a very similar situation... she cried every morning for the first many months, but she was happy when we picked her up, saying she had a very nice day. But starting with the second year, she is excited to go to kindergarten, she does sooo well with the language, and her bestie is also a foreign girl. They communicate with one another in a mixture of both mother tongues + German + few English words here and there... so sweet.
I thought I would never hear her say that she misses kindergarten, but those days finally came 😀
Awe yes, you understand how it was for us very well, then! We had exactly that same experience. So glad that your daughter is happy now!
I`m sure you realized before moving to Germany, your life will not be easy in a foreign country. Especially with four kids in a different age and different requirements.
But you are managing so many "problems" in your own way, in a good way 👍and without losing your humor (as far as we can see in your videos 😄).
And I´m also sure, in a few years, Ella will say: "Mom, Dad, this have been problems your you ? Because i can`t remember to all these things, this must have been "peanuts" for me !
Don`t worry about me."
What are the games kids today are playing on birthdays in Germany vs. the US? We had for instance games like „Topfschlagen“, „Der Plumpsack geht um“, „Blinde Kuh“ and „Stille Post“. At least the latter has a counterpart in the US: „telephone game“.
Perhaps this is a thing that could be interesting for families moving to Germany, what are the typical games for groups of kids they are playing in the US vs. Germany. 🙂 I know there are similar games for kids in those two countries like tag (Fangen) or hide and seek (Verstecken). And while watching Squid Game, there were also games for kids that were similar to German kids games like „Red light, green light“ in Korea is equivalent to the German „Ochs am Berg“. But what are the differences? The Games that are unknown to other countries? 🙂
Simply amazing, well done everybody.
Danke ☺️
Some children just take longer to adjust to going to the kindergarten. My first daughter is very shy and even though she is German and didn't have any language barriers to overcome, it took her about 4-6 weeks to get used to going to the kindergarten. Luckily, our kindergarten was very tolerant and was okay with the "Eingewöhnung" taking so long. Not every kindergarten in Germany is like that. Ella is doing really well!
That’s so true - children who are more shy tend to want to be near their parents for longer, and that’s totally okay! We all have different needs and personalities.
Your explanations of child development and how kindergarten is in your Kreis in Bayern is just like Waldorf kindergarten culture.
Oh, I feel so sorry for poor Ella, that must have been a tough experience for her in these first weeks in Kindergarten. But it’s so great to know that she is doing well. I love your channel, although I don’t have children and never had to think about these problems.
Yeah it was tough. Keeping her at home for those first few months was the right decision for her. ❤️
Maybe another idea to explain that Ella had her problems was seeking attention and getting time with you alone? As you told the older ones needed more attention than usual because of the new schools. And I guess before moving to Germany she probably got the most attention being the youngest and the only girl.
Yeah that might’ve been part of it! Our attention moved from her to her brothers as we helped them do their work at home during lockdowns. It was quite a difficult time.
Living in an English speaking country, I also found, like you said, foreigners seem to understand each other easier.
Even though we don’t speak perfect English. Maybe we have learnt to listen to the meaning conveyed and don’t focus small things not understood.
aww i love your channel! i don't even have kids, but many of my friends do and i am always interested in what environments we grow up in and how it affects us, back when i was little and nowadays. and how it differs in different cultures and what has to improve in the future. i notice that most people don't even reflect on these things, they just want their kids to be somewhere while they go to work and that is it. you guys have so many interesting thoughts and pick out interesting quotes from people, i love it. i am just agreeing on so many things. :)
(btw i am german, in berlin, and around your age i guess)
Just to make sure: birthday rituals are another thing that's very dependent on the individual Kindergarten. For instance in our Kindergarten, they try to avoid both too much sugar AND the birthday cake competition between parents, so the birthday celebration is very low key and cake is not allowed. The kids don't really miss it, they're still allowed to feel special on that day.
Oh interesting! The kids in our kindergarten do bring a cake, fruit, or some type of sweet for their birthdays.
I went to Kindergarten only for three months, as it just opened for the first time in my home village, back in 1973. Then I went straight to school, still being 5 years old - fate of the Scorpio-born, I guess … 🤓 I liked the Kindergarten, the two "Aunts", as we called them, were nice, and every time when I met them later on the street or at the groceries in my little Bavarian village we had a nice chat. That went until well into my 20s, before I moved to Augsburg, but if I'd meet them today, at age 54, I would still call them "Aunt Inge" and "Aunt Rosie" to make them laugh. I'm not often in my village anymore, as my family dissolved.
Hallo ich bin aus Augsburg :)
I am so glad that your kids are doing so well. With our first move (from Germany to Atlanta), I did not talk for a full year. The subsequent moves (to Italy and a few other countries) fortunately did not take me as long. In the meantime, I know 30 different languages and am happy. My languages multiplied because I am also Deaf and wanted to learn the various signed languages as well. I completed my Abitur in Munich and moved to Minnesota for college and a PhD program.
In our region of germany kindergarten is play only - the entire time. some kindergardens offer playful english-lessons but in general the children are free to play and develop their skills the way they feel like it. i loved kindergarden, it was such a warm place for me. like a second home.
There is a kind of skill in every child or person. Especially when children are in the development phase, you should let them do it. Childhood is very important. The children will certainly grow up without pressure. Greetings to you 😃
I so agree! Grüße!
You're all so awesome! Ella does her thing so well. Maybe you can use pictures like they do in UK (unterstützte Kommunikation = supported communication) for Ella (or the Kindergarten teacher can) for stuff she doesn’t know. They use this form of communication for kids who are nonverbal (e.g. autistic kids) and most kindergartens are trained for this. So if she doesn’t know a word but wants to ask she could maybe take a picture card and show the teachers.
That's a great idea! Maybe I could've made cards for her at the beginning. It would've helped her to feel more confident, I bet.
The Vorschule in Hamburg is very different to other parts of Germany. In Hamburg the last year before 1st Grade they get separated for the year. They have two hours a day a learning time. They learn different things every day (nature, math, German,...). They make a lot field trips and also play a lot. But there is more focus on getting prepared for first grade. But every Vorschule is different. I'm a teacher in a Vorschule-group and I love how they learn and play together. :)
I learned that the kids attention is just as much how old they are. Like a 3 y/o has attention to listen and sit still for about 6-9 minutes. Young kids need to play to learn all the different things to live life!
It's not only different by region, but every kindergarten does it differently.
In ours, there are different groups (based on age) where they spend an hour each week. This year (age 4/5), we had "marieni", which is science class basically. They played games and did experiments with water (learning the water cycle), magnets, learned about volcanoes...stuff like that. Then there was music, which she'll take again next year. Basically they learn about different instruments and get to try them, learn about rhythm and prepare the songs for the kindergarten church services and parties like the summer party.
Next year (5/6) there will be Vorschule once a week where they have a teacher from the elementary school down the road teach them, take them to school occasionally, tell them about differences between kindergarten and school. Then, like I said, music again and English.
For the youngest (3/4 yrs) there's "schmusekater" which is also science based like marieni, but they also talk about everyday things like jobs, mechanics, traffic safety rules, ...
So yeah. Our kindergarten offers A LOT, which not many do. But you have to consider that there are a ton of concepts like Aqua Kita, Waldkindergarten, Montessori....so understandably the educational priorities differ.
Your kids being bilingual sets them up for a better potential future as well.
We sure hope it will! Especially knowing German, since German technology and business industries are very strong!
We didn't learn any numbers and letters in kindergarten in switzerland and I went to school at age 7 because of the date of my birthday :) I loved it!
Ah love it!
@@MyMerryMessyGermanLife And I still did my masters degree ;)
Another lovely video. It's so interesting to see how other parents deal with the change in life. I think that even to a point some Germans when they are parents for the first time have to re-learn what Kindergarten was like, as it probably has changed since they were little. There are times when I miss when our children were at that age, and there are more times when I'm so happy that ours are out of that age. So enjoy it while you can :D
Oh, thank you for mentioning me
I’m so glad you saw that we mentioned you! ❤️
Vorschule in north-west Germany is an optional type of school. The way I understand it, it's for kids who are kind of too advanced for kindergarten but not yet ready for Grundschule (elementary school).
That‘s interesting. It‘s quite the opposite where I‘m from